I Won't Forgive Anyone Who Hurts You No Matter Who It Is
by Sincerely The Sign Painter
Summary: Despite the media's portrayal, vampires were not undead monster. Vampirism was an illness that struck unexpectedly. It woke up a second conscience within a human that desired blood. A story where Eiji is attacked by a vampire and Ash wants to find and kill them. However Eiji acting weird about the whole thing and won't give Ash information about the vampire. What is Eiji hiding?
1. Chapter 1

_Another vampire victim was found in a back ally. The culprit is a young woman around her twenties. If you have any information on this woman, please call the number below. Authorities warn the public to stay indoors after sunset…_

Ash sighed and turned off the TV. Vampire attacks were always a nuisance. It meant his men had to be careful when traveling after dark less a vampire bites them, or they get accused of being one.

Despite the media's portrayal, vampires were not undead monster or a species apart from humans. Vampirism was an illness that struck unexpectedly. It woke up a second conscience within a human that desired blood. The amount of blood needed to satisfy a vampire and cure them from their illness changed per vampire but most of the time it was close to an adult's human's amount of blood. There was some vampire who needed a smaller amount and their victim were able to survive while some vampires needed a greater amount and attacked multiple people. Unless they killed their victim however a vampire would only attack one person at a time. The biggest problem about vampirism was that when the illness took over every night the person's alternate personality would wake up and attacks their victim. In the morning the vampire would return to where they fell asleep and had no memory of their nighttime excursions. The end result was that arresting them became a horrifying and chilling experience. When a person learned that they had vampirism they could take it in many different ways. Some people were in denial while others became violent or afraid. Some broke down and started crying or turned themselves in. Other's attacked authorities in an attempt to get away.

It was also hard to prove someone was a vampire since there was no physical change during the day. The best way was to hold a suspected vampire overnight and see if they awaken. If they did then that person would be help prisoner by the authorities. This was basically a death sentence since the vampires couldn't take blood from IVs and needed it fresh. They would also not take blood from other people who were not their victims. These vampires would drive themselves crazy in prison while their day conscience lost all hope as they slowly waisted away. They usually lasted about week at most. Scientist from all over the world were working on curse but none were found as of yet.

In Ash's life he had been through two vampire pandemics. Both lasted a month and neither of them involved anyone he knew. Ash pushed himself off the bed and strolled to the window that overlooked the street outside. The apartment that his gang was using had boarded up windows which made it easier to protect. He would have to make sure to put more people on guard duty and to make sure that doors were locked at all times. The biggest problem was the building's located. Ash hated how the streets outside wasn't visible from his windows. The lighting was poor and left plenty of dark spaces for undercover travel.

"Hey boss?" a tentative voice came from the doorway. Ash turned his head slightly to glance at Alex who was standing at the doorway with a few other gang members "Did you hear the report?"

"Yes," he said eyeing them coolly, "We're increasing security. Make sure all doors are locked and no one leaves after dark by themselves." His boys nodded and scurried out of the room. As they left Ash sighed and sat down on the bed again. Although this was going to make his life more difficultm it was nothing to worry about. Like last time and the time before it was just a waiting game. It'll be over in about a month's time and he could go on with his daily life.

How wrong he was to think that.

…

_"If you have any information on this woman, please call the number below. Authorities warn the public to stay indoors after sunset and to keep all doors and windows locked."_

Eiji sighed and headed away from the TV in the window displaying, his shopping bags swinging in his arms. Although he lived through a few vampire pandemics back home they still made him nervous. He had always worried that someone he knew would become a vampire. He didn't know what he would do if his mother or father suddenly tried to attack him or his sister. Luckily, nothing like that had happened yet but still….

"Young man." A voice said behind him. Eiji jolted back to reality and turned quickly to find a police officer watching him. "It's getting late, you should return home." Eiji blinked a few times and looked up and down the street. It was nearly deserted with a few people still mulling around. The sun was setting in the distance and a few street lamps had started to come on. It apparently had taken Eiji a lot longer than hey thought to grocery shop.

"Do you need me to escort you back to home?" the police asked him kindly noticing the startled look on his face.

"No, I'm good!" Eiji said quickly. It wouldn't be good to lead the officer to Ash's headquarters. "I'm heading back now!" With that he rushed down the street. The subway station was only a block away and from there it was only a ten-minute ride and a ten-minute walk. If Eiji hurried he could make the next subway. As he turned a corner his phone started ringing. He slowed down a little to pick it up.

"Hello?" he said.

"Where are you?!" Ash's annoyed voice asked. "You went shopping a while back. What's taking you so long?"

"Sorry!" Eiji said, "I found somethings on sale. I couldn't resist getting them."

"This is not the time to channel your inner house wife!" Ash exclaimed exasperated. "How close are you?"

"I'm only a few stops away by subway." Eiji said. "I'll be back in the next twenty minutes." It was quiet on the other end. Eiji knew Ash was calculating how much time Eiji had before it got dark.

"I'll be back soon," Eiji promised. "Don't worry."

"You better." Ash grumbled. Eiji smiled to himself as he hung up the phone.

….

The streets were dark by the time he got off the train. For some reason the subway had been almost 20 minutes late to arrive at the station. Half way through the journey it had to make an emergency stop because someone dropped their suitcase on the track. By the time he got off the train the streets were completely deserted, and all the street lights were flickering on around him.

Eiji hurried down the street feeling uneasy. He was only about 10 minutes away from the apartment. He needed to calm down and breath. Closing his eyes for a second, he took a deep breath and hurried down the street.

_"I'm almost there."_ I thought to himself. _"Stay calm."_ This was easier said than done. Ash had picked a pretty rundown part of the city to hide in. The old and mostly abandoned buildings loomed over him and his footsteps echoed eerily around him. As he passed an old boarded up building, he suddenly became aware of soft footsteps behind him. Eiji glanced over his shoulder and saw a tall middle-aged man with short brown hair walking quickly towards him. Eiji turned forward again and sped up slightly.

_"Stay calm."_ He repeated in his head. This man was probably just going in the same direction as him. He probably just needed to get home and was on a late train as well. There was no reason to assume the worse. Three turns later however the man was still following behind him. He was closer now and Eiji could see a hungry gleam in his big brown eyes when he glanced over his shoulder. Eiji started running and behind him he could her the man break into a run. Eiji knew he was in trouble. There was no way he could outrun this man. If he was a vampire, and Eiji was sure he was now, he would be faster than an average person. Eiji spun around as he came to another corner and flung the two shopping bags at the man. The man batted them out of the way and Eiji slowed slightly down to pull out his phone. Before he could dial Ash's number the phone rang.

"Where are you!?" Ash demanded angrily, "You said you'd be back almost an hour ago!"

"I was delayed," Eiji panted, "I'm about five minutes away" There was a pause on the other side and Eiji knew Ash was picking up the fear in his voice.

"What's happening." He asked sounding alarmed.

"There's a vampire." Eiji gasped glancing behind him. The vampire's eyes were narrowed at the phone. Without a warning he lunged at Eiji grabbing his ankle. Eiji dropped his phone and smacked the vampire's arm with his fists. The man's grip loosened and Eiji scrambled to his feet again.

He could hear the vampire's footsteps only a few feet away and he knew he needed to do something fast. Glancing around he dove into an abandoned building on the right side of the street. He darted down the narrow musty hallway and crashed up a staircase on the other side. As he jumped up the stairs two at a time, he felt one of the steps break slightly under his foot. He hoped that the vampire would fall when he came to that step. The second floor was dark and Eiji stumbled forward with his hand on the wall. He came to a room and dove into it. Feeling around he found the door and slammed it shut. His hands felt a lock and he clicked it to the right.

He slowly crawled back as he listened to the silence. Down stairs he heard the vampire entering the building. The vampire slowly went from room to room searching for him. Eiji curled in a corner and hoped someone would find him soon. Even as he thought this a voice in his head reminded him that no one knew he was here, and his hopes fell. He heard a crash on the stairs as the vampire hit the loose step but unfortunately Eiji heard him make it to the second floor. The vampire walked slowly through the hall. Eiji covered his mouth and prayed that the man didn't hear his loudly beating heart. Did vampires have super hearing? He heard him enter one room and then another. Finally, the door of the room Eiji was in rattled. It was quiet for a moment then a soft voice came from the other side.

"Open up." The vampire cooed "You can't escape me. You should just give up." Eiji closed his eyes and took a deep breath. There was no way to escape.

BANG

The door in front of him gave an ominous creek as the man hit the door with his fists. Eiji felt around him and found a hammer on the ground. Picking it up he prepared to fight. As the door continued to break, he suddenly heard a voice yelling down stairs.

"Eiji!" The voice called and Eiji's heard skipped. It sounded like Ash.

"I'm up here!" He yelled and he heard hurried foot steps down the first floor's hall. As the footsteps climbed the stairs, he heard a horrible snapping sound followed by crashing and then silence. Eiji felt the blood drain from his face. Did Ash just fall? Was he alright? The vampire outside had also pause to listen to the intruder. After a few moments of silence however he went back to breaking down the door. Eiji held up his hammer again as he heard the door fall forward and footsteps enter the room.

….

Ash was frantic. After his first call to Eiji he had tried to stay calm. Eiji had reassured him that he was on his way back and would be back in twenty minutes. It would just be getting dark then so it should be fine. Ash was able to keep calm even when Eiji was late. Almost an hour later however Ash couldn't take it anymore and called Eiji again. The phone call was short and ended with the sound of a struggle, but Ash got the just of it. A vampire was after Eiji.

It took only a few minutes to gather his gang and send them out in groups of three to find Eiji. Ash himself went alone since it was faster than traveling with a group. He didn't care if he ran into a vampire. The first vampire that got in his way wouldn't last very long.

Ash darted down one street and then another, listening for any sounds. As he sprinted down one of the side allies into a larger road, he heard a loud crash coming from one of the abandon buildings. Rushing in he paused and heard smashing from the floor above him.

"Eiji!" He yelled. It was quiet for a moment then he heard Eiji yell back. Ash's heart started pounding as he charged down the hall towards the staircase. As he jumped up the stairs his foot suddenly fell from underneath him. A quick glance around showed Ash that there was no way for him to grab onto anything. He tensed up and waited for the impact. He hit the floor hard and broke through it. Ash fell into darkness and hit cold cement. His breath was knocked out of him as he fought to stay conscience. Through his haze he heard the sound of a door smashing two floors above him and then he heard no more.

Ash woke up to find himself sprawled on the concert cellar of the abandoned building. Morning light streamed through the hole in the celling where he had fallen through. Ash gave a grunt as he dragged himself off the floor. He was covered in cuts and blood from his fall, but nothing seemed to be broken. As he staggered to his feet his memories of last night came flooding back to him. With a gasp he charged for the staircase that led to the first floor. He spun around the corner and started up the second-floor stairs, jumping over the missing step that caused his fall. On the second floor he rushed from room to room. The third one he entered he found the floor covered in blood and a dead man in the middle of the room. The man was middle aged and tall with short brown hair. His wide brown eyes stared blackly up at him in horror. His neck was bent in a weird angle. Other then him however the room was empty. Ash frowned and headed back down the hall. He knew he heard Eiji's voice last night, but he didn't seem to be in the building. Did he leave the building or did the vampire get him? If the vampire caught him, he would be hidden somewhere close. Vampires hid their victims to make sure no one found them. Vampire venom kept their victim drowsy all day which prevented them from escaping. Ash took a deep breath and pulled out his phone. If Eiji had managed to escape the building, he would be back at their apartment now. He went to contacts and called Bones.

"Boss!" he yelled when he picked up. "What happened! I tried to get in contact with you all night! Have you found Eiji?" Ash's blood went cold. So Eiji hadn't returned. That could only mean one thing.

"No," Ash said shortly, "I ran into some trouble and was out for most of the night. I'm in a building on the corner of Hems and Rock street. Get the others and come here. Eiji was probably taken by a vampire so he should be in the area."

"Yes boss!" Bones said and hung up. Ash took a deep breath and started his search. He pulled up any lose floorboards, broke down any closed or locked doors, tore apart boxes, and smash in any wall the seemed to have a space behind it but Eiji did not appear to be in the building. Ash's heart was hammering harder than ever, and his mind was going blank. What should he do? It was already past noon and if they didn't find him before sunset the vampire could move in to another hide out. He could keep doing that until Eiji ran out of blood. Ash's mind suddenly flashed to the news reports that he had seen during pervious vampire pandemics. Bodies of people shriveled, and pale found in trash cans or in rivers. All of them had pained expressions on their empty face and many had cuts and bruises. Ash wouldn't let Eiji become one of those corpses. His phone rang and he picked it up quickly.

"What." He snarled more aggressively then he intended to.

"We found Eiji!" the nervous voice of one of his gang members stammered. "He was in a side alleyway behind a dumpster. Ash hung up and charged down the stairs and into the street again. He saw his gang gathered around one of the allies and headed over. They parted as he approached until he was in the middle. Eiji was lying there pale and limp. His eyes,, which were usually bright and wide, were dull and half-closed staring blankly up at the sky. Ash put a hand on Eiji's chest. It was still warm, and he could hear Eiji's heart pounding beneath it. Ash gave a sigh of relief.

"Water." He said. "Get me water and call 911." His gang rushed off to do so and Alex returned a moment later with a water bottle. Ash gently propped up Eiji and put the bottle in his mouth. Water was one of the few things that diluted vampire venom. It aloud the vampire's victims to come out of their stupor. Eiji's mouth closed on it and he took a few small sips. After a couple of moments Eiji stared drinking quicker and his eyes fluttered open. Ash took away the water bottle as Eiji's eyes darted around looking scared. They landed on Ash and a look of terror crossed his face. Ash guessed he was probably reliving last night.

"Calm down." Ash said soothingly. "Eiji it's just me. You're alright now." He gently ran his hand through Eiji's hair and held him closer. Eiji tensed up at his touch and closed his eyed. After a few seconds he let out a long breath and his limbs became less tense. His eyes reopened and they were full of determination.

"Ash," he croaked.

"Shhh, it's alright." Ash said. "We'll get you to the hospital soon. Just relax for now. You can tell us about the vampire later." Eiji opened his mouth again then closed it and nodded. He leaned into Ash's arms and after a few moments started drifting off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

"How are you feeling?" Ash asked sitting down next to Eiji. It was late afternoon and guest were finally allowed to visit Eiji's room. He was lying in a hospital bed with an IV sticking out of his arm. The scraps and bruises that lined his body were covered in bandages that crinkled under his blue hospital gown. A lot of the color had returned to his face and he was looking healthier.

"Better." Eiji said softly. "The doctor said I could go home today." Ash's face darkened. The doctor had informed him that, due to the vampire attacks, they didn't have enough room in the hospital for all vampire victims. Eiji was placed in a temporal ward to recover enough so he could be sent home. A nurse would be visiting him daily for a checkup but other than that it was up to Ash and the others to make sure the vampire didn't break in looking for Eiji.

"Ash?" Eiji said worriedly noticing Ash's glower. "What's wrong?" Ash rearranged his face into a calmer expression.

"Nothing, just thinking." He said smoothly. Eiji frowned clearly not buying it.

"More importantly," Ash said changing the subject. "Now that you're feeling better, can you tell me about the vampire that attacked you." Eiji hesitated, frowning at his blanket.

"He was…. tall." Eiji said vaguely still looking at his blanket. "And…had short black hair…. Chinese probably…" Eiji said slowly.

"Was there someone else with you?" Ash asked thinking of the dead man in the abandoned building. It was unusual for a vampire to kill a potential victim. At Ash's words Eiji's head shot up and he stared nervously at Ash.

"What do you mean?" he demanded.

"I found a dead man in the building you were attacked in." Ash said watching Eiji's face curiously. "He looked like he had died only a few hours earlier. I was wondering if you ran into him." Eiji's face expression calmed.

"I see." Eiji mutter. "He must have died before I arrived…" Ash eyed Eiji. It was clear that he was lying about it. His reaction was way to dramatic for it to be nothing. Ash opened his mouth to question him further but paused. Eiji looked tired. Although not as pale he still had dark circles under his eyes. Exhaustion was a side effect of vampire venom. The person became drowsy but was not able to fall into a deep sleep. Eiji was probably up most of the night. Ash's face expression softened. Whatever Eiji wasn't telling him probably wasn't very important. He could ask him more questions when he had fully recovered. The thing that bugged Ash the most was that Eiji seemed to be lying to him, yet he couldn't think of why that would be.

"Hey Ash?" Eiji asked quietly. "Vampires are still humans, right?"

"It's an illness," Ash said taken aback from the question, "They aren't changing species."

"Vampires act so different then how people act." Eiji whispered. "They change." Ash paused, wondering what happened last night to have him say such things.

"It's a second personality." Ash finally said, "They keep many of their usual traits, though many are amplified. They also have memories of what they did during the day despite their day mind having no memories of the second personality."

"It so horrible…" Eiji said shuttering. He closed his eyes and drew the blanket to his chin. Ash watched him, every cell in his body wanted to hug Eiji; to reassure him that it would never happen again; to find and slaughter the damn vampire who did this. It was clear that last night's memories were still haunting Eiji. Ash never wanted Eiji to suffer. The fact that a vampire got him this nervous filled Ash with a raging fire.

"He won't hurt you again." Ash said through gridded teeth his hands clenched. Eiji opened his eyes and gazed at Ash. His eyes seemed to be searching for something, reassurance maybe? Finally, he brought the blanket down and gave a small shaky smile.

There was a knock on the door, and both young adults jumped and turned. A nurse was at the doorway, a clipboard in hand.

"Mr. Okumura?" she said, "The doctor says you're free to leave when you want." Eiji let out a long breath.

"I see," he muttered, "thanks." Ash stood up and headed to the door so Eiji change into his street clothes. In the waiting room he found his gang nervously waiting for a report.

"Eiji's fine." Ash said. "He's coming back with us tonight." Many of the gang member relaxed and Ash narrowed his eyes.

"This is only the start of the battle." The young gang leader told them. "The vampire is going to come back for him. We need to make sure no one breaks into the apartment." The gang muttered among themselves and Ash walked towards the exit. He wished Shorter was with them, but he was away visiting relatives in Boston and had, somehow, managed to forget his phone.

….

"If you hear any weird sounds call me, alright?" Ash said sitting on the edge of Eiji's bed. "Even if you think it's nothing still call. I don't care if you think you're bothering me or anyone here. Your safety comes first." Ash and Eiji usually shared a room together but tonight Eiji was sleeping in another room. The room they shared had a window close to an abandoned apartment building. It would be easy for the vampire to hop from the building to Eiji's room. The room Eiji was currently in was smaller and had no windows. It had one door that led to a short hallway that could be easily guarded. With nearly half his gang awake and on alert it would be impossible for a vampire to break in.

"I'll be fine." Eiji whispered. Ash raised an eyebrow. Eiji's fingers were fidgeting nervously with his blanket and his eyes kept darting around the room. When he noticed Ash's expression, he forces a smile. Ash's eyes softened and he gently put a hand on Eiji's. He leaned forward and planted a small kiss on the Japanese's forehead.

"You'll be fine." He said confidently, pulling back. "I promise." Eiji's eyes rose to meet his and he stared at Ash like he was trying to memorize him. A short pause and the Eiji nodded mutely. Ash gave one more reassuring smile and squeezed Eiji's hand gently. As he stood up to leave however, he couldn't help but noticing Eiji's nervous breathing.

_"He'll calm down tomorrow." _Ash told himself. It hurt him to see Eiji like this. He looked so broken and defeated, jittery and on the edge. The vampire attack had done a number to him and Ash wasn't sure how to comfort him. He felt so helpless. It was usually him in that situation but with the roles reversed he found himself feeling useless. The best thing he could do was to guard the apartment with everything he had and keep the vampire away. Ash headed to the roof so he could watch for any intruders who entered the vicinity.

….

Despite how tense he felt; despite how his mind was on high alert, this night was not one of his best. Ash found himself distracted more easily and even dozed off ones or twice. This was uncommon for him and it left him feeling frustrated. Ash had been able to stay up three or four nights in a row without dozing off. It was pathetic that when Eiji needed him the most his body decided to act so weak. The only plus side was that the night was uneventful. Ash watched the sun rise gracefully over the horizon and knew it was bright enough for all vampires to return to their day selves. He dragged himself to his feet and stretched. Now all that was left was to check on Eiji and get some rest before tomorrow night's battle. Giving a small yawning he went down the stairs towards Eiji's small room.

Eiji was fast asleep when Ash entered. His blanket covered most of his face and he looked like a small child wrapped up a cozy blanket burrito. Ash smiled as he clicked on a small lamp that sat on the table next to Eiji's bed. Sitting down next to the sleeping Japanese Ash felt himself start to relax. Eiji was safe and that was what mattered. All the stress that was built up all night faced away, and Ash let out a slow breath. He could do this. They would only need to hold the vampire at bay for about week before the he would starve to death. Of course, the vampire probably wouldn't wait that long and would attack in the next few days. A cold smile spread on Ash's face. When the vampire showed up, he would regret it. Ash would make him pay for both biting Eiji and dramatizing him. A new wave of exhaustion hit him, and he almost toppled over on Eiji. He put out an arm to catch himself and paused to check if he had woken up Eiji. Eiji didn't stir and Ash almost snorted out loud. Only Eiji could feel this stressed and still sleep soundly through the night. Ash reached up and smoothed Eiji's hair gently. His hand moved down to Eiji's face and it pushed the blanket out of the sleeping man's eyes. Ash froze. Eiji's eyes were wide open and as glazed over as they were yesterday. Ash snatched the blanket and jerked it off of Eiji. On his neck there was a fresh bite mark gleaming red on his pale neck.

"And no one entered the building?" Ash demanded angrily. He was sitting on an office desk in one of the side rooms glaring at his gang. They were all fidgeting under his hostile stare.

"No, we saw no one!" Alex promised cowering away from the look in Ash's eyes. Ash hissed and glanced around the room. There had to be another way they were getting in. If it wasn't through the windows or door… Ash closed his eyes and swore under his breath. How could he have been this stupid.

"Vents." Ash said opening his eyes. "Check all the vents. Make sure they are sealed tight. Bones, Kong, you two will be stationed in Eiji's room tonight. Don't let his get bitten." There was a pause and then his gang scrambled away to do his bidding. Ash sighed and jumped to his feet. He had been too carless. He had assumed that the vampire was an average person who didn't know how to break an entry. It had been an arrogant assumption. Thanks to his error he had broken his promise to Eiji. The thought of that made Ash's stomach turn and he felt sick.

Ash headed up to Eiji's room to check on him. The blond opened the door a crack and peeked in to see if the Japanese was asleep. He was awake and sitting up in bed. Alex had given him water and Eiji was once again hooked up to the IV's. Even so he was clearly that the second night of getting attacked had taken its toll. Eiji was not recovering as fast as yesterday. He was paler and had deeper circles under his eyes. The nurse who had come earlier to check on him informed Ash that the vampire venom was slightly toxic to humans so its effect would last much longer. She said he would still be weak even after they replenished his blood.

As Ash entered the room Eiji slowly turned to look at him. When he saw who it was, he paused and then smiling a little nervously.

"Hey," he said softly. Ash felt a wave of shame hit him as he sat on the edge of the bed. He closed his eyes and rested his face in his hands.

"I'm sorry." He finally said. "This shouldn't have happened. I was carless." His words felt empty. He had broken a promise to Eiji to keep him safe. Ash felt a hand on the side of his face. Looking up he saw Eiji's dark eyes starting at him, any trace of uncertainty gone.

"Hey," he said calmly, "You shouldn't blame yourself." Ash looked back unconverted.

"You're apologizing to much." Eiji said lightly. "If you keep worrying, your hair will turn gray." It was a clear attempt to lighten the mood and Ash decided to play along, if only to try to remove the brick that had settled in his chess.

"Oh?" Ash said coolly. "if that happens, I'm sure an old man like yourself could help me find some good hair products. I need my hair to keep its youthful lust." Eiji's eyes gleamed, clearly happy that Ash was playing along.

"Sure." He said passively. "I'll find you a pretty orange one." An evil smirk crossed his face. "That way your head will look like a pumpkin." Ash gaped at him.

"Is that a threat old man?"

"You should respect you're elders youngling." Eiji said wagging a slender finger at him. Both boys laughed. Eiji had once again proven his power to lighten the mood even in this dark situation. When that thought passed through Ash's mind the laughter died on his lips. Eiji, sensing the change in mood, paused uncertainly. Ash cast around to try to find something else to talk about; to keep the lighthearted mood.

"You seem to be feeling better." He finally said. "By tomorrow you'll be fully recovered. It will be nice to eat something good for a change."

"Is the food that bad?" Eiji asked mockingly. "Are you that desperate for my cooking?"

"Sadly, burnt toast does not live up to a nicely cooked meal." Ash sighed dramatically.

"Then I'll make you breakfast tomorrow." Eiji said smiling. He paused for a second then added quietly. "Even if I'm not feeling better." Ash's blood went cold. Eiji still thought that he would be attacked again.

"Don't say that." Ash said comfort putting his hand gently on Eiji's. "You won't be bitten tonight. I promise." As he finished speaking, he knew how empty his words sounded. He had promised Eiji safety yesterday and had failed. He couldn't blame Eiji for his worriedly expression.

"Maybe…" he muttered to himself then took Ash's hand. "I think…. I think…" he took a deep breath again and let it out. "Never mind."

"Get some rest." Ash said gently kissing his palm and letting go of his hand. Eiji smiled at him as he left the room.

"Hey boss?" Alex said tentatively. Ash glanced over at him from his position on the roof. He was stationed there again but was making hourly patrols through the building to be on the safe side.

"Are you going feeling alright?"

"I'm fine." Ash said shortly. He knew why Alex was asking. Ash must look like a real mess. He didn't eat must food all day and got next to no sleep. The stress he had been feeling for the last two days was really starting to take a toll on him. On his last patrol his got a dizzy spell and collapsed on the ground for a few minutes. When he woke up did an extra run of the building to make sure no one got in.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Alex bite his lip uncertainty. Ash turned his attention back to the horizon. In the distance he saw a faint line of light creeping up over the horizon. In about 30 minutes there would be enough light to insure Eiji's safety. Ash let out his breath slowly. There had been no call from Kong or Bones indicating that Eiji had been attacked. He should be safe….

_"That's what you said yesterday." _A voice in his head chided at him. _"Are you sure he's safe?"_ Ash growled to himself and Alex looked around alert.

"I'm going to check on Eiji." Ash said to him and Alex relaxed. Ash couldn't get that nagging voice out of his head and until he saw Eiji with his own eyes the voice wouldn't be quiet.

Ash crept into the hall and knocked quietly on Eiji's door as to not wake him. He heard movement on the other side and a gruff voice demanded.

"Who's there?"

"It's me," said Ash. He heard the locks click and the door opened a fraction so that Bone's eye was visible.

"Boss?" he said uncertainty.

"Let me in." Ash said calmly. "I want to check on Eiji." Bones paused a moment then reluctantly opened the door. Ash pushed his way in and padded quietly across the room. Kong was sitting next to Eiji, a water bottle in hand. He watched Ash approach, looking down right terrified. Ash ignored them and sat down next to Eiji.

His eyes were closed, and his breathing seemed to be normal. Ash was starting to relax when he noticed that Eiji seemed paler then yesterday. Frowning he pulled back the covers. The bite mark on his neck was still there looking as fresh as it did the morning before. Ash's mind started reeling. It made no sense. Eiji was clearly in a deep asleep which meant that there was no new venom in him, but the bite mark looked fresh.

"Did anyone except me enter this room?" Ash asked Bones and Kong quietly. Both shot each other looks then shook their heads. Ash gave a small hum and dropped the covers back over Eiji. He stepped away from him and headed back towards the door. As he left Kong and Bones seemed to relax.

"Don't let your guard down." He told them. "We still have twenty more minutes before it's light enough for him to be safe."

"Yes boss." Both said sounding miserable. Ash closed the door and went back to the roof. The sun was now appearing over the horizon and Ash could start to see the city clearer. Probably only ten or so minutes. He sat down and began counting down the minutes tensely in his head. The vampire wouldn't want to miss a meal. He was probably getting desperate. With only five minutes left the vampire might abandon all caution and rush the building in a faint attempt to get a bite. Ash glanced down at his watch. Two minutes...one minute….

"Tel the other's we're good." Ash said calmly standing up. Alex nodded and got up as well. Ash headed down stairs and went straight to his room. He felt exhausted but relieved. This time nothing bad had happened to Eiji. He was safe.

"What do you mean the venom has increased?" Ash snapped at the nurse who winced. He was in one of the small meeting rooms with the nurse to discuss about Eiji's current condition.

"Th-there is more venom in his blood then yesterday." She stammered. "And he has lost blood again. He must have been bitten."

"That's impossible." Ash growled running a hand through his hair. "No one came into his room last night."

"I don't know." The nurse said nervously. "I need to get back to the hospital…" Ash shot her a glare and she quickly turned and left. The second the door closed he slammed his hands on the table. He was losing it. Somehow, someway the vampire had got in. It was impossible though. There was no way. Eiji didn't seem to be under the vampire's venom when he checked on him.

Ash stood up. He needed to talk to Eiji again. There must be something he was missing. He made his way quickly upstairs to where Eiji was lying.

"Hey." Eiji said calmly as he entered the room. He seemed more relaxed then yesterday and not at all nervous. "Are you alright?"

"Eiji." Ash said sitting down. "Where you attacked last night?" Eiji paused his mouth forming a straight line.

"No." he finally said. "I don't think so…I mean when would I have been attacked?" Ash pressed his knuckles to his face.

"That's what I thought…" he muttered, "But the nurse thinks you've been attacked again." Ash looked up. Eiji's eyes were downcast and guilty.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, then jumped and quickly elaborated, "Y-your putting in so much effort to protect me…I hate seeing you so stressed." Ash sighed. This was getting him nowhere. Protecting Eiji didn't seem to be working. It was time to go on the offense.

"Eiji," Ahs said curtly, "I need more information about the vampire." He hated having to ask him since Eiji had suffered so much, but the more information he had the easier it would be to find and kill the monster that did this.

"Huh?" Eiji said looking panicked, "uhhh, He…. he was wearing a…uh baseball cap…um and uh.." Eiji stammered off. Ash felt bad. It was clear how much pain it caused him to recall the detail, however he needed the information.

"What colors were his eyes?" Ash pressed on.

"I-I didn't see." Eiji said. "His long hair covered them." Ash paused looking confused.

"I thought you said he had short hair." He finally said. Eiji looked terrified.

"I-I…" he closed his eyes and grasped his blanket. "I'm sorry." Eiji looked like he was going to be sick. Ash relented.

"Hey it's ok." He said grabbing his shoulder. "I won't ask anymore." Eiji shoulders sagged.

"I'm sorry." He said sounding close to tears. Ash reached over and hugged him. As he held Eiji's shaking form he swore that he would find that vampire and teaching him what real pain felt like.


	3. Chapter 3

The world was crumbling around Ash and he couldn't do a damn thing about it. A week and a half had passed since the Eiji was first attacked and he was getting weaker with every passing day. He could no longer sit up in bed and had to be propped up with a pile of pillows whenever he ate a meal. His grip was shaky, and someone had to help eat. Eiji was having trouble eating sold foods because of all the damage the venom was doing on his digestive system. He was now mostly living off soup and juice. On the sixth day of the vampire attacks Eiji had suffered from a fever and the next day he could barely open his eyes. They had rushed to the hospital where the doctor removes some of the venom that was coursing through Eiji's veins. The doctor had informed Ash that in large quantities the venom could cause a physical break down of the body. After a large quantity of venom was removed, Eiji's fever went down. The doctor refused to let Eiji stay overnight at the hospital which at that point Ash almost attacked him. The vampire had taken a lot of Eiji's blood and Ash was aware that, if it wasn't for the blood transfusions, Eiji wouldn't be alive.

Ash had did everything in his power to find the vampire. He had put metal plates over all the windows and doors so there was only one way to get in and out. He left the remaining door locked at all the time and had someone in charge of letting them in and out. He soldered shut all the vents in the building so that even he couldn't get in if he tried. Ash had made his men patrol inside and outside the building when it got dark enough. During the day he and his men searched the area for anyone who fit Eiji's vague description. Still, every morning, Eiji would be paler with fresh bite marks on his neck and the nurse would inform Ash that Eiji lost blood again.

Nothing Ash did seemed to work and between the lack of sleep and food he was slowly driving him crazy. Eiji told him he should take care of himself.

"There's no reason you have to suffer so much." Eiji had said staring at Ash with his big dark eyes. "Eat and sleep more, please. I don't want you dying on me." As Ash became more frantic, Eiji seemed to become calmer. He was no longer jumpy in the mornings, nor nervous in the evenings. He smiled more and chatted happily with Ash's gang about their day to day plans. Its worried Ash since it looked like Eiji had completely given up hope for himself. The only times Eiji displayed any concern was the guilty looks he kept shooting Ash. He apologized more often now, no matter how Ash tried to explain that it wasn't his fault.

His gang was not helping. He knew they were whispering behind him back, probably under the impression that he was going insane. They seemed more warry of him and some wouldn't even look him in the eyes. Ash couldn't figure out what their problem was, but he didn't have any energy nor time to deal with them. When the vampire was caught, then he would deal with his gang.

Even so, on the tenth day the nurse informed Ash of the criticalness of Eiji's possession.

"He's getting weaker and we can't just keep pumping blood into him." She said to Ash. "It's putting to much stress on his body. He's not having enough time to heal from the venom. He needs at lest a week and a half break from vampire venom for his system to completely clear up. After his system is cleared his body will be able to heal itself properly." She paused looking nervous. "If this continues, he will only have about another week left to live." Another pause, "Maybe a week and a half if he's lucky." Ash closed his eyes and breathed in slowly.

"What can I do." He asked, hating how much plea was in his voice. "Is there any way to remove the venom? Could he spend tonight night at the hospital being monitored?"

"That's not possible." the nurse said regretfully. "This pandemic is the worse we've seen. No one is leaving or entering New York City. Our staff and faculties are stretched to their limit. We are also currently limited on supplies. The death count for both vampires and their victims are higher than usual. There isn't much I can do. I'm sorry." Ash clenched his fists as the nurse stood up to leave. Was this it then? Could he do nothing but watch Eiji slowly waist away? Giving a frustrated sigh, he headed upstairs to check on Eiji.

"What did the nurse say?" Eiji asked gently when he saw Ash's face. Ash sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at his hands. He couldn't look Eiji in the eyes, not after letting him down so much over the last week and a half.

"If this continues you…you will only have a week, or a week and a half left to live." Ash said softly. It was quiet in the room for a moment.

"I see." Eiji said and Ash hated how resigned he sounded. "Ash I- "

"If you're going to apologize again then save it." Ash interrupted. "This isn't your fault. It's mine for not being able to protect you."

"It's not like that!" Eiji said, weakly grabbing Ash's shirt. "Please listen to me…You have to understand…This…I mean….please don't blame yourself…." Ash raised his eyes to meet Eiji's pleading ones. He looked so desperate.

"How can you say that." Ash croaked. "It's enterally my fault. How can I not blame myself?" Eiji looked close to tears.

"Ash…you tried your hardest…there isn't anything you can do…"

"If you are tell me to give up on you." Ash snapped, "Then forget it. Do you actually think I can just let you die? You want me to what, abdomen you? Dump you outside for the vampire to pick up?"  
"I can't…I don't…." Eiji said closing his eyes hands cleaning desperately to Ash's clothes. "I just don't know what to do…"

"Eiji," Ash said softly as he took Eiji's trembling hands from his shirt. "Do you really think you're going to die? Please if there is any information you can give me about this vampire now would be a good time." Eiji shut his eyes, tears streaming out of them.

"I know you know something." Ash continued. "You're hiding something from me, I just don't know what. Please Eiji tell me!" Eiji gave a small whimper but said nothing.

"Is there a reason you can't tell me?" Ash pushed on. "Is someone threatening you?" Eiji didn't answer. "Will someone get hurt or die if you say something." It was quiet for a moment then Eiji nodded weakly.

"Who?" Ash asked quickly. "Please you need to give me more information!"

"I'm tired right now." Eiji whispered hoarsely. "Please, please…" His voice faded off and he looked completely shut down. Ash let go of Eiji's hands and moved them to his face. He slowly ran his thumb down Eiji's cheek.

"Please don't give up on yourself." He begged his voice breaking. "Do you want the vampire to win? Do you want him to kill you?"

"Ash…" Eiji said opening his eyes. "The vampire is just a human. He is just trying to survive. I can't hate him for that-"

"You can't hate him for killing you?" Ash laughed coldly. "Eiji this is not the time to be considerate. It's either him or you."

"He doesn't know what he's doing." Eiji continued. "He's a good guy when he's awake…I mean I believe he's a good guy when awake. His day self…probably would never even think of attacking me… He probably would hate himself if he learned the truth… Ash how can I hate someone like that?" Ash's hands dropped his side and he laughed. It was a cold empty laugh but once he started, he couldn't stop. So Eiji was just going to give up and let the vampire kill him, was he? There was no way in hell Ash would let that happen. Only Eiji would be kind enough to forgive a monster. Only Eiji could say those things with a straight face. But Ash was not Eiji. He was not going to let that vampire take Eiji away from him. He was not going to be merciful.

"Ash?" Eiji said alarmed. Ash stopped laughing. He bent over and rested his forehead against Eiji's.

"Let's get one thing straight." He whispered. "I will not let him take you. I'll stay here tonight with you. You won't be attacked. This will end. You will live. I'll kill that vampire even if it costs me my life." Ash pulled back and looked into Eiji's mournful face. He looked so small and helpless, lying there in the bed. His thin chest weakly moving up and down and his eyes, bright and watery, looking hopeless.

"Ash," Eiji said. "You mean the world to me. I would do anything to protect you. I know there isn't much I can do to help but I'll do what I can. You know, that right?"

"I know." Ash said softly, "But tonight let me protect you.

"You should try to get some sleep." Ash said to Eiji. It was around 11:00 at night and he was sitting on a stool in one corner of the room where both the door and Eiji were in his sight. He had thought that Eiji would go to sleep but instead he had propped his body to the side and was watching Ash. He didn't look remotely tired.

"I slept most of the day." Eiji said, "I want to say up with you. I want to…to be with you. I've missed you. I haven't seen that much of you over this last week." Ash felt his heart ache. He had been so busy protecting Eiji that he hadn't have much time to do anything else. Every morning he would come in to check on Eiji and again after the nurse came and at night. But other than those times they rarely had any time for conversations and any conversation they did have almost always ended with them fighting.

"Well we have all night now." Ash said shrugging. "There isn't much to do until the vampire shows up." He held himself back from saying "I can't wait until he does." Since Eiji was still sympathy with that monster. Even so Eiji seemed to pick up something from Ash's eyes because he looked stressed.

"I know the person isn't aware that he's a vampire." Ash said, "But that doesn't excuse the fact that you're dying because of him." Eiji frowned down at his hands and didn't say anything. The room lapsed back into silence. Ash mentally cursed himself. What was he doing? Eiji had just mentioned how lonely he was. Why was he trying to drag up vampires again? It always ended in them fighting. Ash searched around for a topic to speak about that had nothing to do with vampires. His mind flashed to that afternoon, when he was searching for the vampire in a little shopping mall. He remembered overhearing in the supermarket's parking lot some women mindlessly gossiping.

"So," Ash said conversationally pulling up that memory, "You know Ms. Mull? That lady who works at the grocery store? It seems like she's getting married." It was a pointless topic to bring up and Ash personally didn't even know why he remember such a stupid conversation, but it served its purpose. Eiji's face lite up and he looked at Ash excitedly.

"She is?!" Eiji exclaimed, eyes sparklingly. "It's Mr. Moon right? The man who runs that ice cream stand?" Ash paused. He was pretty sure that one of them women did drop that name. He decided to roll with it.

"I believe so." He said slowly.

"Finally!" Eiji laughed. "He's been inviting her out every day after her shift. Mrs. Chales said that it was only a matter of time until they hooked up. I thought they would be together sooner, but Mrs. Dalk said they weren't that far in their relationship. Mrs. Smith however said she saw them meet…" As Eiji yammered on Ash found it amazing how many people Eiji seemed to know. The names of random people kept coming. Only Eiji could know that many people during a gang war. His ability to channel his inner house wife was amazing.

"Do you know when the wedding is?" Eiji asked breaking Ash out of his thoughts. Ash paused a moment to think it over.

"No, they didn't say." He said.

"I should congratulate them." Eiji commented. "Or maybe buy them a gift."

"I'm sure they would be pleased." Ash said giving a small laugh. Eiji noticed this and pouted

"Laugh all you want." He grumbled. "But weddings are amazing things. The promises between two people swearing never to leave each other's side, for better or worse; sickness or health; hunted gang lead or not." Ash snorted.

"You're getting ahead of yourself there." He said. "You might find someone better than me."

"That's impossible." Eiji said firmly. "But even so, a wedding is an exciting thing especially in these gloomy times." Ash's face expression darkened. They had arrived back at vampires. Eiji noticed his face expression and paused.

"Ash?" he said slowly, "Are you still- "

"Yeah I'm listening." Ash said quickly. Eiji blinked a few times and then relaxed.

"So," Ash said trying to get the conversation back up. "What wedding gift would you get the lovely couple? It can't be something you order online since we can't really get packages here. It would make it to easy for someone to find us and break in."

"Hmmm you have a point." Eiji said thoughtfully. He paused for a moment before launching into a complicated plan on how get something delivered to their hideout without any neighboring gangs finding out. As Ash listened he realized of how tired he was. He knew he wasn't getting enough sleep, but he couldn't afford dozing off like he had been the last couple of days. After a few minutes Ash became aware that Eiji had stopped talking and was surveying him.

"Ash?" Eiji asked looking worried. "Are you alright."

"I-I'm find." Ash muttered. They lapsed into silence again, but Ash was feeling to tiered to try to start up a conversation. An hour passed, and then another, and another. Ash kept glancing down at his watch.

3:00 am: Ash tried to fight sleep while wondering when the stupid vampire was planning to show up?

3:30 am: Eiji was still watching him closely and refused to sleep when Ash suggested it again.

4:00 am: There was a weird noise in the hall but when Ash went to investigate it turned out one of him men had tripped over the carpet.

4:30 am: Ash was just about to tell Eiji again that he really should get some sleep when his head started to pound and his gaze became unfocused.

"Ash?!" Eiji said sounding alarmed, "Are you alright?" Ash tried to focus on him, but he was starting to lose conscience. Something wasn't right.

_"What's going on?" _he wondered as he staggered to his feet. His unfocused gaze lingered on the ceiling. The vent. He was really losing his touch. How could he have been this carless. Although someone couldn't get through the vent, they could still put something in the vent. Something that could knock out any unsuspecting people.

Ash collapsed to the ground his conscience waning. As his mind faded, he realized that Eiji had fallen silent. He was probably knocked out by the gas entering the room. With that last thought, his mind went blank.

Ash's eyes opened. He found himself sitting propped up on the stool in the corner of the room, instead of sprawled on the floor. He groggily glanced down at his watch. 7:30 am. The sun would be up by now. Dragging himself to his feet, he stumbled over to Eiji. He was facing away from Ash, the blanket pulled up to his chin. Ash knew that if he turned him over, he would see a fresh bite marks on his neck. Gritting his teeth, he pulled Eiji towards him. He was greeted by Eiji's dull lifeless eyes and a new bite mark. Eiji had been bitten again. Cursing loudly Ash grabbed the water bottle from the side table and put it in the Japanese's mouth. A few minutes later Eiji stirred and light returned to his eyes.

"A-Ash." Eiji stuttered weakly.

"I'm here." Ash said soothingly stroking his cheek. Eiji's tired eyes gazed at Ash for a few minutes.

"I'm going to hook you up to the IV again ok?" Ash said. Eiji hummed weakly as Ash worked with the equipment. When he was done, he went back to sitting on the edge of the bed. He gently placed his hand on Eiji's forehead. It was a little warm but not too bad.

"Ok Eiji, I'm going to go get Bones and Kong to watch over you." He said pulling his hand away. "Just wait here a moment." Eiji stirred and tried to turn towards him.

"Stay…. please." he begged. Ash paused.

"It'll be alright." He said. "I need to do a few things ok?" Eiji weakly gazed at him and gave a tiny jerk of his head in consent.

"I'll be back later to check on you." Ash said soothingly.

Eiji muttered something unintelligibly and Ash turned and rushed to the door. He found it still locked.

_"So, the vampire really wanted it to look like nothing had happened." _Ash thought grimly, _"He put me back in the chair and locked the door again. That still doesn't explain how he got into the building in the first place."_ Ash stomped down the hall and barked at the first person he saw to send Kong and Bones to Eiji's room. He rushed down the staircase until he bumped into two more members of his gang.

"Two you," he snapped. "Get a metal sheet and solder over the vent in Eiji's room. Understand?" The guy nodded without making eye contact.

_"The vampire can't be getting into the building every night. There's only one place to enter and I have it guarded. Does that mean he's here during the day?" _Ash thought his mind wiring. _"No, that's impossible. His day mind would be confused if it woke up in an unknow building and a vampire always tries to return to the place where they had fallen asleep." _

"Hey Boss!" a voice called from the doorway, jerking Ash out of his thoughts. He glanced over to see Alex watching him.

"What is it?" he snapped. Alex winced.

"There's a messenger here for you." Alex said. "He says Shorter is back in New York and wants to meet up."


	4. Chapter 4

Shorter had made many mistakes in his life, however forgetting his cellphone was now ranking as one of his biggest. Him and Nadia had left New York about two weeks ago to help take care of a cousin they didn't even know they had.

The poor girl gotten herself pregnant and was attempting to run away from her angry family and abusive boyfriend. With on one left to turn to she desperately consulted an old phone book that had the number of her estranged uncle. The number connected her to the Chang Dai restaurant where Nadia had picked up. After learning what happened she had consulted Shorter and both had decided to help. Nadia would go to a small town in Massachusetts where she has some friends who would take the unfortunate girl in. She would explain the girls' predicament and prepare a place for her to live. While she did that, Shorter would make his way to Boston to pick up their cosine and deliver her safely to that small town.

The plan went fairly well, excluding a few mishaps, and the girl was finally secured and safely hidden away. The whole trip took about two weeks, and in that time, Shorter had to lay low due to cousin's family's constant patrolling of the area and her boyfriend's connections to some neighboring gangs. Shorter got no information about the outside word during this time. When the girl had finally settled down in the small sea shore town, Shorter had relaxed thinking the worst of it was over. It was around then that he learned about the vampire pandemic occurring in New Your City. After hearing about it he quickly left Naida with her friends and had rushed back to New York City to make sure everything was fine there. He was met with a military blockade which took him almost four days to maneuver through.

Overall New York City hadn't changed to much. The nice thing about vampire pandemics were that people were only afraid after dark. During the day most people carried on with their businesses. Of course, there was still obvious signs of the pandemic. Most windows were boarded up or had bars in them. The amount of police roaming the streets had increased. There were missing and wanted posters hanging in store windows as well as public notices such as "Signs that someone is a vampire" or "Ten ways to protect your home," or "Ways to help a vampire's victim" all of them ending in a link to a website. There were also bulletin boards informing the public of the hot line that they could use if they had any information or suspicions about vampires.

The last difference were the people. Although this was one of the largest vampire pandemics, it was still relatively small compared to other kinds of illness pandemics. It was clear that many families were still not affect by it yet. It was always easy to tell those who were suffering. People who watched others suspiciously on the streets; glaring at anyone who got to close; or had their phone in their hand ready to dial in case they saw any proof that someone was a vampire. These people were most likely family or friends of a vampire victim. They became cold and suspicions, wanting either to save their loved ones or to get revenge on a loved one who died. Then there were other people who kept their heads down. These people didn't smile and avoided eye contact. They looked both miserable and guilty and withdrew from the general public. These were the people who knew someone who had become a vampire or, sometimes, was a vampire themselves and learned about it after recovery.

Shorter never really had anyone he greatly cared about die in a vampire pandemic. One of his neighbors during the last pandemic had become a vampire, however he didn't really know him, so it didn't actually affect him. As Shorter entered his gang's base to check on his men, it seemed that he had gotten lucky this time as well. His gang was all fine and none of them had been carted away by the police or found with bite marks on their necks. Shorter, feeling more at easy, sent a message to Ash to meet up in front of the library.

One look at Ash told Shorter that his luck had run out. Ash was a mess. His clothes and hair were disheveled, and his eyes had dark circles under them. His usual calm deminer was replaced by a jumpy, jittery one and he kept eying the people around his suspiciously. It was clear to Shorter that someone they knew had been attack.

"What happened." Shorter asked worriedly the second Ash got into earshot. "Who was attacked."

"Eiji," Ash croaked. "He was bitten about a week and a half ago." Shorter swore under his breath. That was a long time to be under the influence of a vampire's venom. He knew that Eiji be a mess right now.

"How often has he been bitten?" Shorter asked.

"Every night, I think." Ash said tiredly. Shorter gaped at him.

"Every night?!" he exclaimed. "How has no one caught the vampire yet? Have you been protecting Eiji?"

"You think I haven't been trying to protect him?" Ash snapped angrily. "I have no idea how the damn vampire is getting in the building or past my men." Shorter took a step back and put up his hands in defeat. Ash sighed, calming down, and rubbed his forehead

"Do you have any idea who it is?" he asked Ash when the later seemed calm enough.

"Eiji's story keeps changing." Ash said wearily. "One day he's a tall shorter haired Chinese man, the next a small middle-aged pale male with a scar on one eye. He says can't tell me or else someone's going to get hurt."

"He's being threatened?" Shorter asked his eye brows knitting together.

"Someone is." Ash said, "He says if he tells me anything someone will either get hurt or get killed. I can't question him anymore on it. I've tried to starve the vampire by putting the hideout in lockdown, but he still gets in… Like I said, don't know how he's doing it." Ash gave another long sigh. He paused for a moment and then began telling the whole story form the beginning. Shorter was quieted through all of it, letting Ash get it all off his chest. Finally, Ash finished speaking, looking even more tired than before. Shorter mind was spinning. It was clear that the vampire couldn't get in the building but that meant… Shorter hesitated not wanting to ask the next question. Ash noticed his pause.

"If you have an idea spill it." He snapped.

"Do you think…" Shorter started slowly "that it could be one of your men?" Ash shook his head.

"I doubt it." Ash said. "I've paired them into groups of two and told them to report any suspicious activities to me. Those who aren't on guard duty are locked in their rooms for the night. I have also been making nightly rounds and would catch anyone who was not at their post. During the day I've questioned each members of their group and compared their answers to their partner's. All the stories add up."

"If none of them are the vampire then…" Shorter bit his lip. "Maybe one of them are working with him?"

"Why would they do that?" Ash asked angrily.

"Because maybe it's one of their family members who bit Eiji." Shorter said. "Maybe he's the one threating Eiji to keep him quiet… You said your men were acting strange…Maybe more of them are on board?"

"Why would all my men team up with one of my guy's family member?" Ash asked frowning. "None of them know each other's family that well. And why would any of them choose a random guy over Eiji? They all like Eiji."

"Hmmmm." Shorter said frowning. "That's a good point…What are you planning to do next?"

"Stay up all night in Eiji's room again and catch the vampire." Ash said. "I closed off the vents. He can't pull a stunt like he did last night." Shorter eyed Ash. There was no way he would be able to pull another all-nighter. He looked ready to pass out. If he fell asleep while watching Eiji he would blame himself and become more aggressive. Shorter quickly started trying to think of alternate options.

"How about this. I stay up with Eiji and you get some rest tonight." Shorter suggested. "If the vampire shows his face, I'll wake you so you can deal with him yourself." Ash stared at Shorter then opened his mouth to argue but Shorter pressed on,

"Look if you keep this up, you're going to fail again. You can barely think straight. How are you going to figure this out if you can barely think? You're a genius I know. But you're letting your fear of losing Eiji cloud your mind. I know it's a real fear but it's not helping right now. You need a good night's sleep to straighten out your thoughts and come up with a plan. Besides how do you expect to fight this vampire in your state. I mean, come on man, you look like a gust of wind could knock you over! Let me hand this one, ok?"

If it was anyone else Shorter knew Ash wouldn't agree to it. If it was anyone else Ash would have snapped that they didn't know a damn thing about him and continue on his current plan. It was a sign of how much Ash trusted Shorter because his shoulders sagged, and he let out a long breath.

"Alright then." Ash muttered. "I'll take you up on your offer.

Ash wasn't kidding when heh said his men were acting strange. As Shorter walked down the hall, he noticed them whispering to each other. Whenever Shorter got into ear shot, they would stopped abruptly and watched him pass. The second Shorter was out of earshot again they began whispering more franticly. Shorter found himself feeling tense. He usually didn't feel this way around Ash's gang but there was something wrong with them. He wished that Ash was with him now, but he had sent Ash off to get some something to eat the second they had arrived at the base. As Shorter walked up the stairs, he noticed Alex and one of Ash's men arguing in harsh whispers. They didn't seem to notice him approaching.

"We don't know where he stands yet!" Alex was saying quietly.

"You're right and that's why he might do the wrong thing!" the other man said urgently.

"He won't be a problem." Alex snapped. "he's the same as us."

"No, he's not." The other man snarled his voice rising. "We don't-" Alex noticed Shorter on the stars and hit the other guy. The other gang member wields around to face Shorter. He turned pale and quickly scurried downstairs pass Shorter. Alex remained where he was standing rooted to the spot, watching Shorter closely.

"So," Shorter said coolly, "Ash told me what's been going on." Alex held his gaze for a minute more then looked down.

"Is that so." He muttered. "Are you here to help watch Eiji."

"Yeah," Shorter said watching his face for any reaction. Alex clenched his fists and looked away. Shorter's eyebrows furrowed. That was not a good sign. It was quiet for a moment then Shorter started moving again continued his journey upstairs.

"Whose side are you on?" Alex suddenly asked. Shorter paused on the top step.

"Sides?" he asked his voice icy. "Ash's, obviously." It was quiet for a moment then,

"I see."

"And who's side are you on?" Shorter asked turning to glare at Alex. Alex looked up at him in surprise.

"I'm on the boss's side…. always." He said. Shorter surveyed him. Alex's expression looked guilty and he couldn't help but not believe him.

"Care to tell me what's going on?" Shorter asked him coldly.

"Tomorrow." Alex said weakly.

"You'll tell me tomorrow?" Shorter asked rising an eyebrow. Alex shook his head.

"I won't need to." He said.

"Cut the charades!" Shorter barked. "Eiji's dying! Why are you playing at?" Before Alex could answer a weak voice from two doors over called.

"Shorter?"

Shorter recognized it as Eiji's voice. In the minute or so he had turned towards the sound, Alex had crept by him and slide down the stairs. Shorter turned to glare after him. He's questions Alex later, probably tomorrow since that was when he said he would be willing to talk. Turning his back on the stairs he walked down the hall to Eiji's room and cracked opened the door.

"Sorry did I wake you?" he asked entering the room. He took one look at Eiji and froze. His own imagination and Ash's description of Eiji had not prepared him for what he saw. Eiji skin looked grayish-white. Even from across the room Shorter could see the bite mark red against his pale skin. Eiji's thin chest rose weakly, each breathing looking like it caused him pain. His eye was big and more empty than usual. Under his eye were large dark circles. His fingers looked thin and boney. They trembled slightly as he moved them. He was propped up by a few pillows and covered up by blankets which made him look even smaller and more pitiful. Despite the large number of blankets, he was shivering, clearly still cold. To top off the image of a dying person he had an IV protruding from his arm, connected to a bag of blood on the wall.

"No, I was awake already." Eiji said pulling Shorter out of his horrified stare.

"I-I see." Shorter said. Eiji must have realized how bad he looked because he his face expression turned guilty.

"Sorry," he said horsey, "I know I look awful."

"You'll get better." Shorter promised confidently. "Trust me, between Ash and me, we'll find that vampire." Eiji looked unnerved.

"Where is Ash?" Eiji asked. "I haven't seen him all day."

"He's taking a break." Shorter said. "He needs food and a good night's sleep." Eiji's face lit up happily.

"So, he's finally taking care of himself. That's good." He said relieved. "How did you convince him to do so? I'm been trying to get him to take a break for the last week." Shorter felt a tug in his chest. It hurt him to see Eiji so weak and it made him happy to know he could still smile like that.

"I'm taking over guard duty tonight!" Shorter said proudly, "So you're completely safe." Eiji's smile froze.

"I see." He said sounding strained. Shorter picked up on his attitude. He didn't know why Eiji wasn't happy about that but right now he didn't want him to stop smiling. Shorter put on a mock sad expression

"Jeez, I'm so glad you're so excited Eiji." He said pouting.

"No, no!" Eiji said quickly, "I'm happy you're staying with me! I haven't been able to talk to you in a while." He smiled reassuringly. Shorter raised an eye brow and Eiji closed his eyes and sighed, any traces of his earlier happiness gone. Shorter wanted to say something to lighten the mood but Eiji seemed to be deep in thought. They lapsed into silence for a couple of minutes, Eiji with his eyes closed and Shorter watching him. After five minutes or so Shorter decided that Eiji must have fallen asleep. He was about to get up when Eiji spoke again.

"You…you care about Ash, right?"

"Of course." Shorter said confused.

"You have his back right" Eiji continued opening his eyes. "No matter what?"

"Yes…." Shorter said not liking where this was going.

"And you'll watch over him even if-"

"Please don't say 'even if I die'" Shorter said. "There's no reason you should think like that. You have time." Eiji opened his mouth again then closed it.

"Yeah your right." He said not meeting Shorter's eye.

It had been two hours since Shorter locked the door to Eiji's room. He was sitting on a stool where he could see both Eiji and the door. He had been worried that Eiji would be gloomy through the rest of the night, but he seemed to be in high spirts despite the potential vampire invasion. Eiji was chatting away happily telling him a story about when his family went to a mountain resort.

"Hot springs are such a weird concept." Shorter mutter. "Why would a bunch of guys want to go bath together?"

"It's not really bathing." Eiji said, "It's more just relaxing."

"Hmmm," Shorter said thoughtfully, "I still don't get it. Now if it was mix baths." Shorter grinned and Eiji rolled his eyes.

"Of course, you'd say that." He groaned. "So anyways I have been meaning to ask you. How was your trip to Boston?"

"It was…busy." Shorter said. "And none to pleasant."

"Oh?" Eiji said interestedly. "What happened?" Shorter started on his story about his long-lost cousin and everything that happened.

"I thought you were just visiting family!" Eiji gasped. "No wonder you were gone for so long."

"I would have been back sooner, but I didn't know that this was going on." Shorter said. "I didn't get any news until after the whole mess with my cousin was over."

"Didn't Ash call you?" Eiji asked frowning.

"I forgot my phone." He muttered. Eiji suddenly started jerking and curling up into a ball. Shorter jumped up worried that he might be having a seizure. After a few seconds however he realized that Eiji was laughing.

"That's why," he gasped out, "Ash was so mad."

"He was?" Shorter said perplexed slowly sinking back onto the stool.

"Oh yeah," Eiji said catching his breath and uncurling. "He must have tried to call you a day after you left. I didn't know what happened but Ash was swearing furiously and said he'd find a way to permanently attach your phone to your arm so you couldn't lose it."

"Huh," Shorter muttered. "Remind me to stay out of Ash's sight for a while." Eiji smirked and opened his mouth to reply when there was a knock of the door. Shorter jumped up from the stool again, facing the door and Eiji fell quiet, his face becoming stony.

"Who's there." Shorter demanded in a low voice, reaching into his back pocket for his gun.

"It's me." Ash's calm voice said from the other side. "I want to check on Eiji." Shorter let out his breath and dropped his hand.

"You scared me man." He grumbled as he unlocked the door. "Next time call me before you show up, that way I won't get a heart attack." The door swung open and Ash entered. Once he was over the threshold Shorter quickly glanced down the hall to make sure one else was coming and locked the door again.

"Hey Eiji," Ash purred. "You are feeling alright?" He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed smiling down at Eiji. "No big mean vampires trying to eat you?" Shorter frowned at his friend's comment. It seemed unnecessarily to mock Eiji about the vampire when he was already on edge.

"Knock it off Ash." Shorter said frowning. "Don't tease him like that. Are you trying to make him nervous?" Ash looked over at him a smug grin spreading across his face.

"Now, now we wouldn't want that." He said smoothly the grin growing even wider. "Why would _I _want to scare _my _precious Eiji?"

"Knock it off." Eiji snapped any traces of laugher gone. "Just tell him already."

"Tell me?" Shorter said confused. "What's going on?" Ash's smile grew until Shorter had a clear view of all his teeth. Shorter saw that two of Ash's teeth had become long and pointy. Shorter's blood ran cold.

"No," he said shortly, "No, it can't be you!" He his voice raised at the end and he slammed his hand into the wall. Ash threw back his head and gave a bone chilly laughed. Then he looked at Shorter, with cold malicious eyes. After moment of analyzing him he turned back to Eiji. He placed his hands on the Japanese's shoulders and leaned down his mouth opening.

"Stop!" Shorter yelled whipping out his gun and pointing it at Ash. Ash paused and closed his mouth. He turned to look at Shorter one eyebrow raised in amusement.

"You're going to shoot me?" he asked in mocked surprise. Then the surprise turned into smuggest. "You know you can't. You know if it comes between me or Eiji you'd choose me."

"Ash wouldn't want this." Shorter hissed, his hands trembling. "He would never want to hurt Eiji." Ash blinked at him a few times.

"You're right." He said dryly. "Ash wouldn't want this. So why don't you shoot me? You can burry me along side my brother. It's not like you knew me longer, fought beside me. It's not like we had any bond. That we would do anything for each other." He paused for dramatic effect and then continued. "Or where you just planning on telling my day self. Let his shoot his own brains out. It will be fun to watch and if he takes his own life you won't be blamed for it. Or maybe if you tell him he might starve himself to death. That way you can watch him slowly wasted away." In Shorter's head an image of his vampire neighbor appeared after he was found dead from starvation in his apartment. The man's eyes were wide and hollow, his skin a sickly yellowish color. The look of pain and exhaustion echoing in his pealing face. The pupils of his eyes dilated until there was only black.

Shorter gridded his teeth. He could never let Ash become that, but he also didn't want to watch Eiji die.

"Do you think it's better to watch Eiji slowly wasted away?" He snarled at vampire Ash. The blond gave him a fake pout.

"Well then." He said crossing his arms. "Who is it going to be? Me or Eiji? You can't have both." Shorter clenched the hand that was around his gun, his finger resting on the trigger. The room was silent, all eyes on him. Then, with the air of defeated, his arm dropped down. Bowing his head, he slumped back down on the stool. Ash watched him triumphantly.

"You're such a good friend." He smirked. He turned back to Eiji and loomed over him his mouth once again opened.

"You could have been nicer." Eiji scolded frowning. Ash paused again.

"Now why should I have done that?" he whispered moving his hand slowly across Eiji's throat. "I needed to get the message to him. He needed to make a choice." Shorter watched this exchange with growing horror.

Eiji knew.

He must have known the whole time. Their earlier conversation returned to him.

_ "You have his back right" Eiji said. "No matter what? And you'll watch over him even if-"_

Eiji wasn't going to say, "If I die. He was going to say, "if he was evil" or "if he was a vampire." The sudden realization hit him like a stack of bricks. Eiji knew all this time what Ash was. It was why his story kept changing, why he wouldn't tell him anything. He knew and he had accept it, accepted the fact that he was going to die.

"Even so, you weren't this mean to the others." Eiji was saying.

"They're just sheep." Ash snorted. "Easily persuaded." Shorter watched this exchange in confusion. Who were the others? Was he talking about Ash's gang? Another conversation flashed in his mind.

_"I'm on the boss's side…. always."_

Alex had said that. He had asked Shorter who's side he was on. It wasn't Ash's or the vampire's side like he and day Ash thought. No, it was Ash's or Eiji's sides. The gang had chosen Ash. Shorter had chose Ash. Eiji has chose Ash. There was no one on Eiji's side. At that horrifying thought Shorter felt his stomach turn and he covered him mouth. In front of him, Ash had lowered his mouth again ready to bite.

Shorter looked away. He felt like a coward; a traitor. He couldn't choose Eiji's life over Ash's even though Ash would want him to. Ash would hate him if he knew, but he needed Ash, wanted him to be safe. Even so this betray hit him hard. How could he watch Eiji slowly die in front of him?

They sat there for a good thirty minutes. Vampire Ash with his teeth firmly clamped on Eiji's neck and Shorter facing away. Finally, Ash pulled away with a content sigh.

"Ah as delicious as always." Ash said fondly. He sat up and leaned back on the bed clearly enjoying the afterglow of his meal.

"Alright then!" He finally said. "Make sure to give him water. I don't want my day self to think anything suspicions happened."

"Is that what you've been telling your gang?" Shorter asked Ash still not looking at him.

"Of course." Ash said arrogantly, "I'm Ash Lynx. Who would choose Eiji over me?"

"Ash would." Shorter said and he could sense Vampire Ash stiffening.

"My day self is a fool." He hissed. "Letting someone like Eiji stick around even if it means having always to protect him?"

"I guess you don't like Eiji then." Shorter said glaring down at his feet.

"No, I don't have a problem with him." Ash said waving a hand dismissively. "But my day self doesn't ask for enough. Eiji is _mine _I should get what I want from him."

"So, you're arrogant and possessive." Shorter snapped finally looking at him to shot him a glare.

"It's two traits that Ash has." Vampire Ash said shrugging. "They just are amplified to an extreme at night." Shorter gritted his teeth. Why couldn't it be another trait that was amplified in Ash? Why those two?

"Eiji understands." Ash cooed stroking Eiji's cheek. "He understands that it doesn't matter how arrogant or possessive I am. He understands that it doesn't matter if I'm cruel or cold. He understands that if I don't get blood his precious day Ash, the one he loves with die painfully. He understands that. He loves Ash enough to die for him."

"Stop touching him" Shorter snapped. Ash looked over at him amused. He pulled his hand away from Eiji and pulled the blanket up to the Japanese's chin.

"I'm going back to bed." He said casually. "Thanks to you I got to take my time tonight. Usually I only get about ten to thirteen minutes. If I take too long, then Ash will notice, and that wouldn't be good. I only get the chance when Ash dozed off or collapsed. As far as he knows he was only out for a few minutes. So, thank you Shorter. Thank you for letting me have fun tonight." He shot Shorter a victorious smiling and slipped from the room.

Shorter stood there, staring at nothingness. He felt dead inside. Catch the vampire? What a joke. He was helping the vampire. Ash would be frantic tomorrow. He'd drive himself crazy trying to catch himself. The creaking of one of the gang member's feet while he patrolled brought Shorter back to his senses. He quietly went over and closed and locked the door again. It felt like a stupid thing to do. If Ash wanted to get in no one would stop him. All that locking the door really did was to keep up the illusion of security to trick day Ash. After the last lock was in place Shorter slowly made his way back to the bed and picked up the water bottle.


	5. Chapter 5

Eiji could remember clearly when he had first got bit. He had been really careless to go shopping so late and not realize the time. The end result was that the sun had set, and he had to travel by darkness. It was then that he had to run from the vampire. He knew he couldn't out run him, so he hid in an abandoned apartment. This turned out to be the wrong decision since the vampire found him easily. Ash had arrived to help but had fallen on the broken stairs. Alone and afraid, Eiji had picked up a hammer and got ready to fight.

BANG

The door broke down and Eiji tensed ready to hit the vampire. Although faint light crept into the room from the broken door it was still too dark to see anything. He heard footsteps approaching in the dark and a second later a hand grabbed him around the neck. Eiji thrashed around wildly and hit in the general direction of the vampire's hand with the hammer. The man howled in pain, the sound vibrating through Eiji's skull, and withdrew his hand. This victory lasted only a moment. A sudden blow to Eiji's chest threw him backwards as the wind was knocked out of him. Coughing Eiji swung again randomly but the vampire was ready. He felt a hand grab the hammer and began to twist. After a few second the hammer was pulled away from him. Before he could react two hands grabbed his shoulder and threw him to the ground. Eiji cried out as the vampire's hands dug into his arms. He could hear panting and feel the man's hot breath on his neck. Eiji closed his eyes tightly knowing what was going to happen next.

Suddenly they both heard footsteps running up the stairs. The vampire paused and listened as the footsteps entered the room. It was quite for a second then the man let out a cry of pain and his grip loosened. Eiji, seeing his chance, wrenched away from him and staggered up blindly. He stumbled towards the door and burst out into the hall. There was slightly lighter there and he paused not knowing what to do. He could run out of the building but the person who attacked the vampire might have been Ash. He might have not hurt himself enough to stop him from saving Eiji. Then again Ash could still be hurt from the fall and abandoning him in this building would be a death sentence. That being said going back into that room was out of the question. He would only be a burden to Ash, if it was Ash that is. At the end he decided to hide one room over. This room's windows were not as boarded up as the first room and Eiji could see moonlight streaming though it. With the extra light Eiji located a rusty pipe and hid behind a dusty arm char. After a minute or so he heard a gun shot and the scuffling went silent. Eiji tensed up. Who was shot? Was it really Ash in that room? If so, was he alright?

In the silence Eiji identify soft footsteps walking out of the room. They paused and then a voice called out.

"Eiji."

Eiji's eyes widened. It was Ash's voice. Dropping his pipe, he charged around the armchair.

"I'm here!" he called. He heard hurried footsteps and Ash appeared in the doorway. Eiji ran to him and hugged him.

"I thought he was going to get me." He said trembling. Ash's arms closed around him.

"He can't come after you anymore." Ash said quietly, "He's dead. He shouldn't have attacked what is _mine_" Something is Ash's voice made Eiji look up at him in concern. Ash's eyes gleamed evilly in the dark.

"Ash are you alright?" Eiji asked uncertainty.

"I'm fine." Ash said his arms tightening around Eiji. "Though I am I little hungry." His mouth opened in a wide grin. In the moonlight Eiji saw two fangs.

"Ash…" Eiji gasps as he tried to pull away.

"Eiji," Ash said softly, "I saved you, therefor you owe me." Leaning forward he closed his mouth around Eiji's neck and bit hard.

The world exploded in pain. Eiji couldn't think. He was barely aware of himself. He felt himself withering away, his body completely dried out. At some point he became vaguely aware he was being dragged across the ground, but he didn't have enough brain power to figure out what that could mean. He was lost in an internal hell wishing everything would disappear when suddenly salvasion came. Something cool and wet touched his lips driving away the pain from that area. He closed his mouth over whatever it was, and he drank. He could feel the dryness and pain fleeing from the cool liquid as came back to reality.

Eiji opened his eyes. He wasn't in the building anymore but had no idea where he was. For a second, he wondered how he got outside, then the memories of last night came flooding back to him. He looked around and located Ash hovering above him. He felt his heart start racing. Was he going to drink more blood?

"Calm down." Ash said soothingly. "Eiji it's just me. You're alright now." It wasn't vampire Ash. It was his Ash. Even though he knew that, even though he knew his Ash wouldn't hurt him, he was having trouble fighting the panic rising inside of him. He couldn't go through that again. He didn't want to be bitten again. Ash looked worriedly down at him and ran a gentle hand through his hair, holding him close. Eiji hated how tense he became at Ash's touch. Closing his eyes wished the image of vampire Ash would go away.

In the darkness he could hear Ash's heart beat and felt himself start to calm down. It was his Ash. It was his Ash. He repeated that over and over in his head. It would be alright. He would explain to Ash what happened.

_"What would that solve?" _A small voice in his head asked. _"If Ash knew the truth what would he do? Would he stop drinking blood?"_

One of Eiji's memory came to mind of a vampires he once saw in the media. The vampire was locked in a building and starved to death. His skin was yellow, and his belly was swollen. His limbs were thin and straggling, each bone visible. The worse thing was his eyes, open and in pain. They had turned completely back, and his face held only despair. Would that happen to Ash? In his mind the man s turned into Ash, lying dead on the ground. His pulse quickened at that thought and he felt panicked.

_"I can't let that happen!"_ Eiji thought to himself. With that final thought in mind he forced his eyes opened and determinately looked at Ash.

"Ash," he croaked. But Ash shushed him and told him that he would be fine. This was his Ash, gentle and caring and a little broken.

Later in the hospital Eiji was finally able to return to normal, or at least as normal as he could. He still felt the venom coursing through body, and he shuttered to think of what will happen tonight. He heard a soft knock on the door as Ash came in.

"How are you feeling?" Ash asked sitting down next to him on the bed.

"Better." Eiji said softly. "The doctor said I could go home today." Ash's face darkened and Eiji suddenly got an image of vampire Ash leering down at him.

"Ash?" Eiji said worriedly "What's wrong?" Ash's face returned to a calm look.

"Nothing, just thinking." He said smoothly. Eiji frowned. He hated how distrustful he had become of Ash. Ash frowning or glowering wasn't anything he hadn't seen before. Why was he still so hung up on this?

"More importantly," Ash said changing the subject. "Now that you're feeling better, can you tell me about the vampire that attacked you." Eiji hesitated. What was he going to tell Ash? Could he really lie to him?

"He was…. Tall..and…had short black hair…. Chinese probably…" It was a terrible description. Eiji hoped Ash didn't see the obvious lie.

"Was there someone else with you?" Ash asked Eiji tensed. Did he know already? Did he know he was there as well? Looking quickly at Ash he tried to read his expression.

"What do you mean?" he demanded.

"I found a dead man in the building you were attacked in." Ash said looking at him curiously.

_"Calm down!" _Eiji thought to himself rearranging his face to look neutral. He thought quickly and then made up another lie. It was clear that Ash wasn't buying it, but he didn't press matters. They sat quietly for a few minutes before Eiji broke the silence.

"Hey Ash?" Eiji ask in a soft voice. "Vampires are still humans, right?" It was a stupid question, but the image of the cold vampire Ash kept coming to mind.

"It's an illness," Ash said, "They aren't changing species."

"Vampires act so different then how people act." Eiji whispered. "They change." Ash was not that person he saw last night. It was like someone else had transformed into Ash. He hated how it effect how he saw Ash.

"It's a second personality." Ash said, "They keep many of their usual traits, though many are amplified." So, it was Ash's arrogant and possessiveness that was amplified?

"It so horrible…" Eiji said shuttering. He closed his eyes and drew the blanket to his chin. He needed to relax. He said he would save Ash and he needed to stay committed.

"He won't hurt you again." Ash said breaking through his thoughts. Eiji opened his eyes and gazed at Ash, searching for any sign he was going to turn into a vampire. It made him feel sick and he felt truly pathetic. Ash trusted him and always tried to protect him even at a terrible cost but Eiji was struggling with even meeting Ash's eyes. Forcing a shaky smile he tried to calm down.

Eiji hoped that a little time would make it easier to face Ash, but it seemed to make it worse. As the day drew to an end Eiji's fear of Ash only increased. He was becoming more and more nervous and restless. His mind jumping from one fear to another.

_"I don't want to be bitten." _His mind kept saying. _"I don't want to die…but I don't want Ash to suffer. I can't let him die." _Next to him Ash was explaining what he should do if a vampire showed up. Eiji tried to listen but found himself too distracted. He suddenly realized that Ash had stopped talking.

"I'll be fine." Eiji whispered and Ash raised an eyebrow. He knew how obvious he was being. He knew that Ash could read his fear as easily as he could read the news. Forcing a smile, he tried to look calm. Ash's eyes softened and he gently put a hand on Eiji's. He leaned forward and planted a small kiss on his forehead.

"You'll be fine." He said confidently, pulling back. "I promise." Eiji's eyes rose to meet Ash's as he tried to memorize his face. The face of day Ash. The Ash he loved and who loved him. Not the terror he will have to deal with in a few hours.

Vampire Ash showed up later that night. He seemed unhappy and complained how he only had a few minutes to get a meal.

"This is your fault you know." He said glowering at Eiji. Eiji looked down at his pillow and didn't answer. Vampire Ash frowned and leaned closer. Eiji's gasped and tensed up, eyes shutting. Vampire Ash pulled away smiling satisfactory.

"That's it," he whispered. "You're mine. You can't escape."

The next day Eiji was feeling worse. Even so his mind was a littler clear then it was yesterday. He felt like he could face Ash now, or at least work towards facing Ash. As if he read his mind Ash entered the room. Eiji smiled nervously as his heart started racing. Ash took one look at him and his face filled with guild and self-loathing.

"I'm sorry." He finally said. "This shouldn't have happened. I was carless." His voice broke Eiji's heart. He didn't want Ash to suffer. He tried reassuring him, but Ash just wasn't buying it.

"You're apologizing to much." Eiji said in a second attempt. "If you keep worrying, your hair will turn gray." It was a clear attempt to lighten the mood and thankfully Ash decided to play along. They argued for a few minutes about pointless things.

"You seem to be feeling better." Ash said. "By tomorrow you'll be fully recovered. It will be nice to eat something good for a change."

"Is the food that bad?" Eiji asked mockingly. "Are you that desperate for my cooking?"

"Sadly, burnt toast does not live up to a nicely cooked meal." Ash sighed dramatically.

"Then I'll make you breakfast tomorrow." Eiji said smiling. Then he paused. Tomorrow he would be worse then today. He shouldn't make any promise he knew he couldn't keep. "Even if I'm not feeling better."

"Don't say that." Ash said and Eiji hated how worried he sounded "You won't be bitten tonight. I promise." Eiji suddenly hated that word "promise". He was going to make Ash break his promise and Ash was going to hate himself for it.

"Maybe…" Eiji muttered thinking of a way he could ask Ash to give up on his promise. But no words came.

"Get some rest." Ash said gently kissing Eiji's palm. Eiji forced a smile knowing how much Ash was suffering.

That night he had Kong and Bones guarding him. Eiji spent most of the night stressing about how to get them to leave so Ash could eat in peace. He didn't need to worry though. Kong and Bones initial fear turned into a realization as they came to the same concluded that Eiji did. Either Ash or Eiji would have to die. Thankfully the made the right chose and choose Ash.

The next day they couldn't stop apologizing.

"It's ok." Eiji said weakly. "Guys I get it. I made the same choice as you." Even so they seemed only guilder at his words.

As the weeks continued Eiji found that he was becoming less afraid of vampire Ash. Day Ash was kind, strong, and caring; concerned over Eiji's health and wellbeing. Eiji started using that image of Ash to ward off the fear in his heart. It made it easier to face vampire Ash. It also helped that, by the end of the first week most of Ash's men knew about vampire Ash. It allowed him to talk to others about his situation. As days went by, he found that he had come to terms with this situation. He no longer spent hours dreading Ash's venom and he had completely stopped being cowed by vampire Ash, much to the latter's annoyance. The only thing that really bothered him was that, as he found himself becoming calmer Ash had become more frantic. Eiji couldn't just tell Ash he was dying for him or because of him. Some days he wanted to just tell Ash, but he knew Ash would do something drastic. He couldn't lose Ash. Ash had so much he hadn't experienced yet. He needed to live so he could finally escape and find a new life. All Eiji hoped was that Ash could somehow forget him and move on. A part of him knew that if Ash gave up on him everything would be easier but Eiji wasn't ready for that. He was too selfish and wanted Ash's love during the day so the nights would be more tolerable. He always convinced himself that Ash would be alright, even though Ash seemed to be slowly driving himself insane. Finally, after a week and a half Ash broke the news to him that he was going to die soon.

"I see." Eiji said resigned. He knew he was going to die but now hearing how soon it was had filled him with some regrets. He suddenly felt the need to apologies again. "Ash I- "

"If you're going to apologize then save it." Ash interrupted him. "This isn't your fault. It's mine for not being able to protect you." Eiji looked over at Ash. For the first time he saw just how worn out he was. He was broken, defeated and it was all Eiji's fault.

"It's not like that!" Eiji said, weakly grabbing Ash's shirt. "Please listen to me…You have to understand…This…I mean…. please don't blame yourself…." Ash stared at Eiji and he could see the grief and pain reflected in his eyes.

"How can you say that." Ash croaked. "It's enterally my fault. How can I not blame myself?" Eiji closed his eyes. Over the last week and a half, he had lied to himself saying that Ash was alright in the hopes that he could have day Ash at his side. Now he could see the damage he had done. He needed to tell Ash to give up on him. He needed Ash to pull away emotionally so he could live on. Eiji took a deep breath preparing himself to say what he had to.

"Ash…you tried your hardest…there isn't anything you can do…" He couldn't finish his sentence, but he didn't need to.

"If you are tell me to give up on you." Ash snapped, "Then forget it. Do you actually think I can just let you die? You want me to what, abdomen you? Dump you outside for the vampire to pick up?" Eiji felt sick. He didn't want to only deal with vampire Ash. He wanted day Ash as well. He knew he should argue but found he didn't have the strength to say anymore on that subject.

Their conversation continued in that way, Ash's pleas and Eiji's refusal to say anything. Finally, Ash seemed to have enough.

"Please don't give up on yourself." He begged Eiji his voice breaking. "Do you want the vampire to win? Do you want him to kill you?" Win. It was almost funny to hear Ash use that word. It wasn't about winning or losing. It was about protecting Ash. Eiji thought for a moment trying to find a way to explain that.

"Ash…" He finally said. "The vampire is just a human. He's just trying to survive. I can't hate him for that-"

"You can't hate him for killing you?" Ash laughed coldly. "Eiji this is not the time to be considerate. It's either him or you." Eiji wanted to yell that he knew that. He wanted to tell Ash that he chose him over himself. Instead Eiji took a deep breath and continued softly.

"He doesn't know what he's doing. He's a good guy when he's awake" Eiji paused realizing what he had said and then quickly amended "I mean I believe he's a good guy when awake. His day self…probably would never even think of attacking me… He probably would hate himself if he learned the truth… Ash how can I hate someone like that?" He expected Ash to yell. To grow cold and tell Eiji he was to naive. What he didn't expect was Ash to throw back his head and laugh. It was the worse sound Eiji had ever heard.

"Ash?" Eiji said alarmed having no idea what to do. Ash stopped laughing. He bent over and rested his forehead against Eiji's.

"Let's get one thing straight." He whispered dangerously. "I will not let him take you. I'll stay here tonight with you. You won't be attacked. This will end. You will live. I'll kill that vampire even if it costs me my life."

True to his promise that night Ash stayed in Eiji's room all night. Eiji wondered how this was going to work. Would he pass out and just wake up as vampire Ash? For most of the night they talked about Ms. Mull's upcoming wedding. Eiji had even half-jokingly brought up the idea of his and Ash's own wedding.

"You might find someone better than me." Ash said to that.

"That's impossible." Eiji said firmly. "But even so, a wedding is an exciting thing especially in these gloomy times." Ash's face darkened and Eiji stiffened. The darkness in Ash's eyes reminded him of vampire Ash. Did Ash just turn into a vampire? Did he doze off for a second and become the night version?

"Ash?" Eiji said slowly, "Are you still-" but Ash interrupted him.

"Yeah I'm listening." Ash said quickly. Eiji's heart started beating faster. He had almost asked if Ash had turned into a vampire. What would Ash have said if Eiji had ask him that. Knowing Ash's IQ, he would have probably figured it out. Eiji silently cursed himself. He needed to be more careful.

Ash finally fell asleep, though more dramatically then Eiji though he would. Ash had gone quite a few hours earlier and then suddenly jumped up and began staggering around. Eiji had been worried but after a minute he realized what was going on and fell quiet. A few seconds after Ash fell asleep, he woke up. He smiled coldly at Eiji as he stood.

"Sorry for the drama." He hissed. "I had to intervene or else he'd never fall asleep." Eiji scolded at him grumpily.

"What's wrong?" Ash asked in mock innocents. "I thought you wanted me" his face broke into a nasty grin. "For better or for worse." He started walking towards Eiji eyes gleaming. "In sickness or in health." He was standing over Eiji looking hungerly down at him. "Vampire or not." He leaned down close to Eiji's ear "Till death do we part." Eiji balled his hands into fists and Ash bared down on him. He hated how easy vampire Ash turned his words against him. He used and abused his love for Ash because he knew Eiji would put up with it. Eiji closed his eyes and pictured day Ash. Grouchy morning Ash with is hair disheveled. Looking down bleary eyed at a plate of food. Playful relaxed Ash with a fake pout on his face as he bantered with Eiji about pointless thoughts. Strong gang leader Ash with a glower on his face frowning down at a map of the city, his mind come up with an amazing plan to take down an enemy. Cuddly Ash who held him closed when it was raining out and he didn't have anywhere else to be. With these versions of Ash going through Eiji's head he felt his body calm as the pain shot through his body.

The last, and unexpected, challenge Eiji had to face was to try to convince Shorter, who showed up the next day, to protect Ash instead of him. He was extremely happy to see Shorter and to hear of his tale of his long-lost cousin. It was the most interesting bit of news Eiji had heard for a while. That didn't stop him from worrying what Shorter would do when he learned the truth. Luckily, it turned out that he didn't need to worry at all. Shorter choose Ash over him, successfully protecting Ash from any protentional threats.

Eiji opened his eyes. His thoughts were disjointed. Blinking bleary he looked up to see Shorter's face hovering over him. For a second Eiji was confused. What was Shorter doing there? Then he remembered that vampire Ash had shown up and told Shorter the truth. When Shorter saw that Eiji was awake he pulled the water bottle away and sat down.

"Eiji." Shorter whispered his eyes starting pointedly at the floor.

"Don't apologies." Eiji said quietly his voice barley a whisper. He worried for a moment that Shorter didn't hear him, but he saw that Shorter had flinched at his words. They sat there quietly for a while. Eiji felt warry but he struggled to stay awake. He had to talk to Shorter. To explain to him.

"Shorter." He gasped out. Shorter shoulders tightened. "Thank you."

"Don't" Shorter whimpered fearfully his voice slowly rising. "Don't thank me for this. This can't end well. No one wins in this situation. Ash will hate himself for your death and you…you'll be buried six feet under." Eiji didn't say anything. He knew that Shorter understood how hopeless it was. If he did tell Ash and Ash died, then Eiji wouldn't forgive himself and they'd be in the same situation. Shorter knew this. There was no way out.

"I can't…" Shorter said holding his hands in front of his face. "I can't do this. I…" His shoulder's trembled. "I'm a coward." Eiji watched Shorter. He wanted to put out a hand and comfort him, but his body was so heavy he could barely move. They sat there for a few minutes in silence.

"Eiji." Shorter finally said. "Be angry. Be frustrated or hurt that I'm not on your side. Please. I…I can't take your forgiveness. I don't deserve it."

"Shorter." Eiji said the words barely leaving his lips. Shorter flinched again as if Eiji hit him and slowly rose his face to look at Eiji's. In the few seconds they made eye contact Eiji knew he didn't need to say anything. Shorter understood. Shorter knew Eiji could never hate him. Shorter knew that Eiji felt like he made the right choice. Shorter knew Eiji didn't see him as a coward or traitor. Shorter knew how much it was killing both of them to see Ash like this. Shorter understood what had to be done. It was just about the amount of time it would take Shorter to come to terms with this.

There was a knock on the door and Shorter tensed. Going to the door he called out,

"Who's there?"

"It's me" Ash's voice said. Shorter's eyes widened and he paused. He glanced back at Eiji who gave a tiny smile and closed his eyes to pretend to sleep. It would be hard to explain to Ash why he was having a hard time speaking. He heard Shorter unlocked and opened the door. A few seconds later he heard Ash's footsteps enter.

"How's it going?" he asked concerned. Shorter didn't answer him. He heard Ash sigh in irritation.

"I know you told me to get a good night's sleep." He said, "But I just woke up and I can't get back to sleep. I need to check on Eiji." Shorter didn't answer again. Eiji peeked through his eyelids. He could see Shorter standing there with a pained look on his face. He was staring warily at Ash's back. Ash walked over to Eiji and gently put a hand on his cheek.

"He seems to be sleeping soundly." Ash said relieved. His hand gently caressed Eiji's face before pulling away. Eiji almost cried out wanting Ash's hand back. His warmth, his Ash.

"We have a few more hours until morning." Ash said turning back to Shorter. The second Ash was facing him Shorter glanced down at his feet. Ash frowned at him.

"You look tired. Do you want me to take over?"

Shorter closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them. Looking up a carefree smiled crossed his face.

"Nah man." He said, "I got this, go back to sleep." Eiji was silently grateful for Shorter playing along. Ash would have known something was up if he was acting too weird. Ash frown deepened.

"You're sure?" he asked "You've been up almost all night. You just got back from your trip. You must be tired." Shorter gave a winning grin and swung his arm around Ash's shoulders.

"Don't worry!" he said cheerfully, "Go and get the rest of your beauty sleep. Leave the rest to me!" He pointed to himself confidently. Ash glanced at him and relaxed.

"Yeah, yeah." He grumbled giving Shorter a fake punch on the head. "I get it." He pulled away from Shorter's arm and headed out the door. He stopped on the threshold.

"Hey Shorter." He said not turning around.

"Hmmm?" Shorter asked.

"Thanks." And with that he left. Shorter waited a few seconds after he left then slowly closed and locked the door. He pressed his ear against the door, clearly listening for Ash's footsteps. After a few seconds his smile vanished from his face and his arms began to shake. He sunk slowly down to his knees, his hands still planted on the door. In the dark Eiji could hear him quietly crying.


	6. Chapter 6

The world was ending. It must be. To Ash a world without Eiji wasn't a world at all. But it looked like his world wasn't going to exist for very much longer. The venom had started to wear Eiji's body down so that he slept for most of the day now, only waking up a few hours in the evening and night. Ash had attempted to guard Eiji for one more night but found that the lack of food and sleep had taken to much of a toll. He had up asleep for a good portion of the night. After that he went back to night patrolling in the hopes of catching the vampire before it entered the building.

It had been four days since Shorter returned to New York. When he had first returned Ash had felt more confident than he had for a while. He had thought that, with Shorter back. their chances of catching the vampire would increases and that the nightmare would be over in a few days. To that end Ash entrusted Shorter with information he kept from him men. This including all the notes he had been keeping on his gang and some emergency plans. These plans were in case of worse case scenarios and he had made Shorter memorize where the emergency exit route that only Ash, and now Shorter, knew of and where he had hid some low power explosive if in the occasion the vampire managed to lock himself with Eiji in his room. Shorter had listened quietly without showing any motivation. Ash had assumed he was tired since he had been up all the pervious night guarding Eiji and had sent him to get some sleep.

Ash's initial relief of having Shorter return however was short lived. After getting a few hours of sleep Shorter had disappeared for most of the day. He continues doing this for the next couple of days. When Shorter was at the hideout Ash found him having whispered conversations with either Ash's men or Eiji if he was awake. It seemed to Ash, though he didn't know if it was just paranoia, that Shorter was avoiding him. He couldn't help noticing that he rarely ran into Shorter when he was at the hideout. Shorter appeared without saying a word and then just as quickly disappeared without a trace. This bothered Ash. Didn't Shorter say he would help protect Eiji? It seemed like Shorter had given up on them, but he wouldn't do that. He wasn't someone who would abandon Eiji. He wasn't someone who would let Ash struggle by himself without offering a hand.

Ash sighed and sat down at the edge of Eiji's bed and surveying the sickly Japanese. Eiji was asleep again. Once and a while he would twitch a little while he slept but didn't look like he was going to wake up. It was tough to see him like this. Pale and sickly looking, it was starting to become hard to remember how he used to look. When was the last time Eiji had smiled without any guilt or laughed carefreely? Hell, when was the last time he was able to walk or even leave the room? It must feel like a prison to him, spending each passing day slowly wasting away without any hope of escape.

Ash closed his eyes at that thought and slowly let out a long breath. Opening them again he glanced down at Eiji he moved his hand up to the sleeping Japanese's face, placing it softly on his forehead. He was getting warm, probably another fever was coming. Eiji stirred feebly and muttered something unintelligible at Ash's touch but did not wake. Ash brought his face slowly down to Eiji's chest. Laying across Eiji he could hear the faint heart beat pumping pitifully against his chest. Eiji's heart was beating to fast as it tried in vain to clear out his system so he could recover. It was a awful to think how much Eiji must be suffering.

"What should I do?" Ash asked quietly. "What is left for me to do?" He buried his head in Eiji's shirt for a moment then pulled away. He looked up at the ceiling. He didn't believe in a god but if there was one….

"Please god," he begged, "please let us change places." This situation as wrong. It was wrong that someone as pure and wonderful as Eiji should die while a cursed creature such as himself would be permitted to live on. Why couldn't he be the one who was attacked? Why couldn't he be the one to slowly losing blood to a monster. Why did Eiji have to go though all this pain? He didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve to die painfully. Was it Ash's fault? Was this a punishment because Ash had become too happy? Was it because Ash had let Eiji stay that Eiji was now being dragged down into hell? He didn't know anymore.

Ash let out his breath slowly and turned his attention away from Eiji. He was about to rise from the bed when he heard quiet voice call his name.

"Ash?"

Looking down he saw Eiji's dull dark eyes looking sleepily up at him.

"I'm here." Ash said resting back down on the bed and gently taking Eiji's hand from underneath the covers. They sat in silence for a few minutes. Ash felt like he should say something but there was nothing left to say. He couldn't make any more promises. He couldn't laugh or smile. He couldn't think too far into the future. He didn't know what to do.

"What time is it?" Eiji finally mumbled.

"6:00." Ash said quietly. Eiji raised his eyes to scan Ash's face. He knew Eiji could see the weariness and grief written on it. Eiji smiled weakly at him.

"It's ok Ash." He whispered. This last comment was too much for Ash. Why, after all this time was Eiji still comforting him? He bowed his head trying to hide the tears that had started falling. He didn't deserve to cry. He didn't deserve to show weakness when it was Eiji who was suffering. How could he be so pathetic when Eiji needed him?

"Ash." Eiji said pleadingly. "Don't cry. If it is hurting, you to see me like this then you can…" He paused for a moment and then continued. "You can leave. You don't need to stay here. I'm sure there's other things you want to do then sit here and worry about me. Why don't you go to the library? You haven't been there for a while." Ash let out a rasping breath and got his emotions under control. He needed to be strong, even if it seemed hopeless. He had been in hopeless situations before. Of course, in those situations he had always been the victim suffering. Now he was just the unapt protector who couldn't even keep the most precious thing to him safe.

"Eiji." Ash said when he felt it was safe to talk again. He reached out and took Eiji's other hand. Holding them up he looked Eiji in the eyes.

"What should I do. What is left for me to do? I can't let you die." Eiji blinked slowly at him for a moment then a small sad smile crossed his face.

"It's ok Ash." He said, weakly squeezed Ash's hands. "It's alright not to win this one. You'll recover. You have to. You need to live on. Someday you can leave this place. You don't need to stay here with me if it hurts you."

"I'm not going to leave you." Ash whispered holding Eiji's hands tightly. "I'll stay with you."

To the end.

The thought went through his head before he could stop it. With it came the crushing truth. Eiji was going to die and there was nothing he could do about it. Ash felt himself freeze, all breath leaving his lungs. Then a hard-burning determination started spearing through him. It scorched his insides and filled him with adrenaline. It was the sort of feeling he had in the past, when something terrible had happen to him and he needed to push forward. This adrenaline was blocking off his feelings and reasoning.

"Ash?" Eiji said softly blinking up at him. Ash knew Eiji saw the sparks flying in his eyes.

"I have to go." He said letting go of Eiji's hands and, bending over him, kiss his forehead. Ash straightened up and marched out of the room with a new purpose. This was not over until Eiji's heart stopped beating. Until Eiji took his final breath and his eyes became glazed and empty Ash was not going to stop fighting. He would tear the city apart looking for the vampire if he needed to. He would smite anyone who was working with the vampire, pervious friend or foe. He would destroy this world if it meant Eiji would be safe. He would never forgive anyone who hurt Eiji, no matter who it was.

Ash walked to his room and started pacing. He needed to do something. After a few minutes he decide to double check the security on the building. Starting at the first floor he made sure that all the doors and windows were locked and boarded. He checks the walls to make sure nothing was hiding behind them. He checks under tables, and behind sofa. He stabbed through each cushion to make sure nothing was inside them. He broke into each of his men's room and to check for clues. He tore his way up through the first two floors and was working his way through the third one. He was checking the walls in the hall for any hollow spaces where someone could hide, when he heard Eiji's voice speak urgently from his room.

"You do realize how dangerous that is!" Eiji said in a loud hiss. This was followed by a harsh coughing fit. Ash quickly started towards Eiji's room with growing alarm at the sound. Eiji knew that raising his voice would cause him pain. What could have driven him to speak in such a manner?

"Calm down." Another voice said. "You're going to hurt yourself." Ash froze right outside Eiji's door. That voice belonged to Shorter's. Ash hadn't even known that Shorter had returned to the hideout.

"You're not the first person to try this." Eiji wheezed still recovering from his coughing fit.

"I have some connections that could help." Shorter said. "Eiji this is the only chance to change things. Don't you want this to work?" Ash's eyes narrowed. Was Shorter planning something? Did he have a plan to catch the vampire? If so, then why haven't he confided in Ash? Ash's hands clenched angrily. Why did everyone suddenly start treating him like a child?

"I would love it if there was another way but is this really worth your life?" Eiji said urgently. "They shoot on sight Shorter. They don't ask questions. If they are at all suspicious they will kill you. They have some of the toughest security out there. What would happen if you die?" Ash frowned confused. Shoot on sight? Tough security? Was Shorter planning on breaking into somewhere? Ash felt like he was missing something important.

"I know but-" Shorter started but stopped. In the silence Ash could hear two of his men talking loudly from downstairs.

"We can talk later." Shorter said hurriedly. Ash heard footsteps quickly rush to the door and Shorter darted around the corner. He came face to face with Ash and stopped abruptly. They stood there for a moment surveying each other. Shorter's face was frozen with a look of guilt and shock on it, Ash's with cool anger.

"What were you doing in Eiji's room?" Ash finally demanded. Shorter blinked for a second then a neutral expression crossed his face.

"It's not important." Shorter said casually shrugging. Ash slammed the wall with his fist.

"Damn it Shorter what are you hiding!" He snarled. "If you know anything about the vampire…"

"Why would I know about him?" Shorter asked raising an eyebrow. Ash gaped at him. Why was he lying? Why was he pretending nothing was going on?

"I heard you and Eiji talking." Ash hissed. Shorter tensed his eye suddenly wide with fear. Ash continued, "You were talking about a plan to break into somewhere. Does your plan have to do with catching the vampire? What do you know?" At his words Shorter relaxed.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He said his face returning to natural. He calmly walked around Ash and headed down the hall.

"Shorter." Ask called after him hating how his voice broke. "You've always been someone I could trust. I want to trust you now but you're making it really difficult." Shorter stopped. Ash could see that his hands were shaking.

"I'm trying to find answers as well Ash." He said not turning around. Another minute passed.

"Shorter you're on my side, right?" Ash asked. Shorter gave a horse laugh.

"Yeah, I'm on your side." He said painfully. "But that may not be a good thing." Before Ash had time to ask him what he meant, Shorter started walking away again. Ash was about to call after him when he heard Eiji call quietly from his room.

"What happened?" he asked worriedly when Ash had entered. "I heard arguing." Ash debated what to say. Eiji probably won't tell him anything if he asked and it would cause Eiji more stress.

"I was just chatting with Shorter." Ash said mildly. "Nothing important." Eiji searched his face guilty.

"I'm sorry." He finally whispered. "You're fighting because of me…"

"Stop apologizing." Ash said, "It's not your fault." Even as he said this, he knew that it wasn't completely true. Eiji knew what Shorter was hiding and was keeping it from him. Eiji had said if he told Ash anything someone could get hurt or die but he seemed to be telling everyone else. Why did it only matter if Ash knew? He needed to figure out what he was missing before time ran out.

7:05 PM

When Ash was going through times of extreme hopelessness, he always escaped to the roof to hide and recollect his thoughts. He usually felt calmer up there. Of course, during the last few weeks, escaping to the roof did nothing but remind him of his failures. The sun had become a clock proclaiming the time Eiji had left. Watching the sun set was like watching an ominous count down. When it hit zero Eiji would suffer. Still habits died hard and, one again, he found himself on the roof watching the sun's slow track down the horizon. He found himself hating the sunset. Like the sun he had no power over Eiji's slowly fading life. Like the sunset Eiji's eyes would go dark and the word's light would stop existing. As he watched the sun a new wave of grief washed over him. Was this really the end? He started feeling reckless, wanting to do something desperate that would destroy everything. His thoughts becoming wilder with each passing day. With these wild thoughts came his constant paranoia. He was starting to see shadows following him on the wall and believed that anyone who passed their hideout was a vampire in disguise. He jumped at any sound and pulled his gun out on anyone who walked around a corner unexpectedly during night patrols.

His dreams had also started to reflect his fears. He had so many dreams surrounding Eiji and the vampire. In most of them he would walked into Eiji's room to find Eiji sprawled dead on the floor. His eyes wide and empty and his face showing fleeting traces of pain. His skin would have turned a horrible grayish white and, on his neck, the bite marks would gleam red. Of course, he had also dreamed about the vampire as well. In those dreams he would enter the room to find the vampire's arms wrapped snuggly around Eiji. If he was lucky the vampire in his dreams would be a stranger, however many times it was someone he knew. Sometimes it was his enemies like Papa Dino or Arthur. Other times it was someone from his family; his father or his brother or a nameless woman who claimed to be his mother. Then it could be a member of his gang like Alex, Bones, or Kong. And sometimes it was Shorter sitting there, fangs deep into Eiji's neck. Then there were other dreams where he was the vampire.

Those dreams would almost always be the same. He would wake up in his dream to find himself tightly embracing Eiji's. Eiji would be looking up at him in fright as Ash bared down on him. He would sink his teething into Eiji's soft flesh and feel him shutter in pain. He would watched as Eiji's eyes went from vibrant and full of life to dull and lifeless. Then when he was done, he would toss Eiji's lifeless corpse away where is would land in a crumpled heap on the floor. These dreams were always the worse. Whenever he had one of them, he would end up jumping up in bed with a cry of fear. He would scramble out of his room and rush to check on Eiji. It calmed him down a little to see him breathing, to remind himself that it was just a dream.

All of these dreams made it really hard for Ash to sleep. He was already not getting enough sleep due to his stress and worrying. He only slept for a few hours each day while it was still light out. The only time he had slept at night was that one time when Shorter watched over Eiji. He knew he needed more sleep. It was becoming increasingly difficult to stay up after dark. He would doze off almost every night. Once or twice he had even fallen asleep for a couple of hours. His sleeplessness was also causing more stress for Eiji noticed the dark circles under his boyfriends' eyes. He knew Ash didn't sleep much because of the vampire but he didn't know of the dreams. Ash felt like saying any of them to anyone would somehow make them real. Like Shorter could suddenly turn into the vampire or his brother could come back from the grave to bite Eiji. It wouldn't help telling Eiji anyways. Eiji would end up feeling bad and it would cause him more pain. Ash would do anything to decrease the amount of pain Eiji felt.

The sun was halfway down through the horizon and the sky above it had turned from a bright orange red to a dark blue. Ash leaned his head again the wall and looked up at the sky directly above him. He could see a few stars coming out, twinkling mockingly at him from their safe place in the heavens. As Ash sat there, he went over again all the places the vampire could hide. He wanted to do one more check before he started his night patrol. He had checked the doors and the windows. Did he check the vents again? He thought for a moment then realized he hadn't checked them since he had sealed them. Decided that checking vents would be the best course of action, Ash pulled himself to his feet and headed to the door.

The building was extremely quiet. He had past only one or two of his men which was unusual. Most of the time they were milling around the building but now they all seemed to be missing. He knew they were probably just taking a break before going on night duty, but his paranoid mind kept coming up with other explanations. They were plotting something. They were hiding, ready to ambush him. It was ridiculous and he knew better then to think that. He needed to pay attention to the task on hand. He had finishing checking the vent in the kitchen and headed to the hall. He knew there was a small vent there, but he hadn't double checked it for a while. Now thinking back Ash wasn't sure if he had checked it at all. He had sealed that vent first and due to how guarded that hall was, he didn't think it was necessary at the time to double check.

Ash went over to the vent and pushed on it hard. To his surprises the vent budged slightly. Ash's pulse quickened. He held his breath as he pushed on it harder. The vent slid sideways leaving an opening for him to climb in. Ash's heart was beating hard against his chest. This was it. He found where the vampire was hiding. The vent had been sealed wrong and could still be lifted. He had found his entrance.

Inside the vent he hopes faded slightly. There wasn't any sign that anyone had been up there. The vent, which protruded in two different directions, was extremely dusty. There were cobwebs hanging down from the ceiling and converting the entire passage. Ash's bit down on his bottom lip. He couldn't give up just yet. This was the closes thing to a clue he had since the beginning. Like hell he would just give up. He should at least see where the vent lead to. Maybe it would give him clues to the vampire's whereabouts. Taking a deep breath Ash began climbing silently through the long dark tunnel.


	7. Chapter 7

_Ash went over to the vent and pushed on it hard. The vent slid sideways leaving an opening for him to climb in. He jumped up and pulled himself inside. The vent, which protruded in two different directions, was extremely dusty and showed no signs that anyone had been up there. Ash's bit down on his bottom lip. This was the closes thing to a clue he had since the beginning. He should at least see where the vent lead to. Maybe it would give him clues to the vampire's whereabouts. Taking a deep breath Ash began climbing silently through the long dark tunnel._

.

Ash crawled through the vent that led to his right. It turned in a few places until it arrived suddenly at a dead end. Looking around he found that the vent didn't end but it got smaller so small that even a young child wouldn't be able to climb through. Under him he saw light protruding from a gridded vent. Ash looked over and saw the kitchen area. One of his gang members was in there grabbing a snack. The sink was full of dishes and there was a slight burnt smell rising from a failed dish to the side of the sink. Ash put his hands against the gridded vent and tried to open it but found that this one was sealed right.

Trying to stay hopeful Ash turned around and crawled back to the opening where he climbed in. There he tried the other direction. This tunnel was a little longer. It twisted and turned until it finally came to another abrupt dead end. Once again there was a gridded vent under his feet that overlooking one of the building's rooms. Ash could see the sitting rooms that the gang usually used when taking breaks. The walls had a dull pealed flora pattern on it and the chairs had a musty look about them. The room itself smelled faintly of cigarette smoke and beer. Inside Shorter and some of his gang members were lounging around, playing on their phones or talking in quieted conversations. Ash attempted to move this vent and found, like the last one it was sealed tight. Ash pulled his hands away and concluded that the vampire had not been using these vents. With that thought his energy fell again. A crushing feeling of despair spreader across his chest as he pressed his head against the vent wall. It was probably almost night out. He should leave and start his nighttime patrol. With a little sigh Ash turned to crawl back through the vent. He hadn't gone very far when Alex's voice rang through the vent.

"What are you planning Shorter?" Ash froze where he was, his heart racing.

"Planning?" Shorter asked clearly surprised. "Who said I was planning anything? Where did this come from all the sudden." Ash turned quietly around and peered down on the living room. Shorter, who had his phone out, was watching Alex with a mingle look of surprise and guilt on his face. Alex was glowering at him, his arms tightly crossed. All the other gang members had stopped what they were doing and was watching the exchange.

"Don't give me that." Alex snapped. "We all noticed you're barely around anymore. You're not one to give up on people. You must have a way to fix this right?" He sounded stern, but hopeful. The rest of the gang seemed to hold their breath, all eyes on Shorter. Shorter glanced around the room hesitantly then sighed his shoulder's sagging.

"I have an idea…." Shorter said finally. "But there's no guarantee that anything will come out from it... Matter of fact there's a good chance it won't change a damn thing." A sigh of disappointment went around the room followed by agitated muttering. Alex's arm sagged and uncrossed, his eyes gloomily and downcast.

"I see." Alex grumbled dishearten. Up in the vent Ash frowned. From this conversation he could determine that they all knew something important that they weren't telling him, and that Shorter was planning something. Ash felt frustrated. What did he do to make himself so distrust worthy that Shorter would hide things from him? As if to pick up on what Ash was thinking Shorter suddenly asked.

"Where's Ash anyways? I haven't seen him around."

"Checking the vents, I think." Bones said.

"Not that it would do any good." Kong muttered glumly. "I think he's driving himself crazy." There was a general muttering among the gang. Ash clenched his fists. So, they all thought he was insane. Was that the uneasy feeling he was getting from them every time they passed.

"I think he already went crazy." Another member muttered. "It feels horrible to hide things from him."

"Sure." Shorter snorted "If you feel so bad about it then go find Ash and tell him the truth. That should be an interesting conversation." His voice became high pitched and annoyed. "Hey boss guess what. You know that vampire that is attacking the man you love? Well you're him!" Everyone looked away from Shorter guiltily. Shorter's face fell and he ran his hand through his hair.

"Sorry." He muttered.

"You know we won't tell him." Alex finally said. "We can't choose Eiji over boss. We need him."

"I know." Shorter said with a painful little laugh. "That's what makes it so hard."

Ash breath hitched. What where they talking about? He was the vampire? That couldn't be possible. He had stayed up every night for the last two weeks….no that wasn't true. He fell asleep almost ever night even for a few minutes. His mind started reeling as he reviewed the events of the past two weeks. His men avoided his eyes. The vampire always getting in no mater how many locks they were. Shorter disappearing the next morning after watching over Eiji. As each piece fit into place the truth became clearer and clearer. Underneath him the conversation continued but Ash didn't hear any more. The monster that attacked Eiji. The one that caused him so much pain and agony. The that was slowly and methodically killing him with each passing night. That horrible creature, that demon was Ash himself.

Ash's stomach lurched painfully, and he covered his mouth to fight down the nausea. His whole body was trembling harshly, but he couldn't feel a thing. The numbness covered him from head to toe, leaving only his stomach to feel the turmoil. There seemed to be a loud ringing in his ear that was blocking out all sounds except for his quickly thumping heart. It was like Ash was looking through the eyes of a different person, looking down at the pathetic creature hiding in the vent. It made more sense for him to suddenly turn into someone else then to be the vampire. It couldn't be real. It couldn't be him. This was just one of his dreams…one of his nightmares. He would wake up…he had to wake up…

Ash wasn't sure how long he sat there in nothingness. It felt like an eternity where his body was frozen and empty. Where he was no longer Ash but instead a molecule wandering aimlessly through space. At some point, starting in his mind and heading down his spine, a horrible hotness seemed to fill him. And then the world came crashing back down. The truth lodged its self in the front of his mind, and he came back to reality. He suddenly became hyper aware of every inch of his body. The world seemed to loud, to close. The voices from below screamed in his ears unintelligibly. His breath came out loud in his ears, but his hands were miles away from him. His limbs were on fire and it felt like a hard rock was slowly sinking into his stomach leaving his body heavy and useless. As he came back to himself, rock in his stomach was replaced by a gaping hole as emptiness was slowly filling with rage.

His mind started snapped back into action. He was the vampire. He was the monster who attacked Eiji. He was death itself. Ash glanced down at his hands and thought he saw blood dripping from them. How dare he, who's hands were covered in blood hurt Eiji. Ash clenched his fists and closed his eyes. How dare he suck the life from someone who never asked anything from him. How dare he hurt a pure creature who's smile could pierce the eternal darkness. How dare he feed off someone who loved him unconditionally even knowing his past. Death had always followed Ash, he was death itself in many cases but Eiji…Eiji always denied that. He never once saw Ash as evil or corrupt. And this was the price he payed for standing next to Ash, for loving Ash. He played it with his body, with his life, with a slow painful death. A death that sapped him of his energy every day; that left him with horrible fevers and the pain of venom. Eiji was a sacrifice. Scarified on a pyre so Ash could continue his blood thirsty crusade though New Your City; taking the lives of so many with him.

Inside Ash the burning hatred turn inwards as it began consumed his insides and mind. His hands clenched his arms as they dug into his flesh. He wanted to tear it all apart. He wanted to destroy the body that had betrayed him. His hands that had protected him by their speed and accuracy suddenly belonged to the enemy to hold down Eiji. His feet that always had served him well when he needed to run or fight suddenly became the tool in which to bring him to Eiji, to drain the life out of him. His mouth, which was his way of communicating plans to his gang suddenly became an item of death as it drank Eiji's precious blood and release its venom into his veins. Ash's minds, which had served him well in scheming and planning suddenly belonged to an enemy who could use it against him. It was almost laughable how low he had sunk. He took blood from Eiji without caring for how Eiji felt or how much pain and suffering it caused. Just like the men who had taken so much from Ash.

He had become one of them. He had become the thing he hated the most. Taking without giving; assuming it was his right to have even as others died for his amusement. He was just as bad as they were; the filth of the Earth. Ash had fought so long against them and yet he now had joined their ranks. Ash wanted to laugh. To cry. To scream. But instead he sat there quietly cleaning to himself. Then he found that he had ganged control over his body and mind again, although the storm was still raging inside. He began to think of the future. What was he going to do next? He needs to protect Eiji no matter what.

_Eiji_

His boyfriend's name suddenly sparked conversations they have had in the past two weeks and a new sense of dread washed over Ash. How much did Eiji know? Did his gang threaten him and lie to him so he didn't know the truth? Or did he already know… Both scenarios were terrible but the idea of Eiji knowing the truth was worse. Ash shook his head and clenched his fist. No. There was no way Eiji knew. He wouldn't just sit around and let Ash kill him. Eiji would be angry. He would last out at Ash during the day. He would tell him the truth…right? He wouldn't let himself die just because of Ash. Eiji was smarter then that, worth much more than that.

Even so, his mind he kept of replaying a conversation they had only a few days prior. On that day Eiji had asked Ash to give up on him. When Ash had fought back Eiji had told him that the vampire was still human.

_His day self…probably would never even think of attacking me… He probably would hate himself if he learned the truth… Ash how can I hate someone like that?_

Was that a confession? Was he trying to tell Ash that he didn't hate him for being a vampire and killing him?

No Ash was not going to believe that. He was not going to believe Eiji had put Ash's life in front of him. If he did…if he had truly put Ash's life in front of his own.

_"What have I done to you Eiji?" _Ash wondered releasing his arms and curling his legs into his chest. He rested his head against the cool metal wall and stared blankly into space. _"I took you from a safe place and then burdened you with my past and my emotions. I took advantage of your love, despite not being worth it. Did I also manage trick you into thinking I was worth more then you? Did I make you think you owed me something? If so…." _If so, then Ash deserved to die, no to starve. If he truly had corrupted Eiji's mind into believing such things he didn't deserve a quick painless death. Anyone who hurt Eiji needed to pay, and anyone who hurt Eiji's mind and body such as he did deserved the worse punishment of all. There was only one thing left to do. He needed to find Eiji. He needed to find and ask him if he knew what Ash was. He hoped that Eiji wouldn't know. He hoped the truth would disgust him, that he would pull away from Ash…It was what he deserved after all.

As sighed and pulled away from the wall. He uncurled and clumsily turned around in the narrow tunnel to head back the way he came. As he turned his leg mistakenly hit one of the walls of the vent. A dull thud rang out through the room below. In the wake of the noise everyone had fallen silent.

"Is there actually someone in the vents?" Kong asked surprised.

"Why would there be?" another gang member asked. "Boss is the vampire."

"Do you think there's another vampire then?" Kong asked.

"I think boss would have found them if they was another one." Alex said. "After all he is checking…" He paused as the truth crossed him mind.

"You don't think…" Kong said nervously. Shorter jumped to his feet knocking over his chair.

"Damn it!" he yelled. "We need to find Ash!" The sound of rushing footsteps passed under Ash as the gang left the room, but Ash didn't care. He could out maneuver his gang and Shorter. He had to. Getting caught was not an option. The young gang leader dropped from the vent and headed towards Eiji's room. It was time for some answers.

Sneaking through the building the building was surprisingly easy. Ash knew the place better then his men from his night patrols, but his men didn't seem to be looking for him upstairs. They must of thought that Ash would try to escape the building. Ash arrived at the third-floor landing without a problem and headed into Eiji's room. Quietly he slipped through the door and closed it. Then he pulled all the locks shut.

"Ash?" Eiji asked concerned. Inwardly Ash flinched. Hearing Eiji's weak voice drove home all that he had done. It entered his ear and pierced his soul. Still he fought to stay calm and collective. Taking a deep breath, he turned slowly to face Eiji.

It was like he was seeing him for the first time. Eiji's pale skin looked worse to him now that he knew the truth. As Ash's eyes grazed slowly went over Eiji's thin body they came to rest on his neck where the bite mark lay, gleaming red against his white skin. _Ash's _bite marks. He had bitten Eiji.

"Ash what's wrong" Eiji asked eyes wide. Ash knew he could see the emptiness in his eyes and sense the unnatural tenseness.

"Eiji" Ash said in a surprisingly calm voice. "I need to know the truth." His feet weighted a ton, but he forced them to move, taking slow step towards the bed. Eiji watched him approach, a look of growing alarm crossing his face with each step. Ash finally stopped at the edge of the bed and fell to his knees. Placing his hands on the blanket next to Eiji he took a deep breath.

"Eiji." He said again his voice wavering slightly. "Did you already know I was the vampire." Eiji's face crumbled. His eyes widened with fear and terror.

"How did you…when did you find out?" Eiji croaked in horror.

The last tether broke. Ash was freefalling again. His worse fears were confirmed; he was every bit of a monster that he thought he was. He had truly corrupted Eiji's mind as well as his body. He had truly taken everything from the young man laying before him.

"Ash!" Eiji cried out. Ash suddenly realized he was laughing. It was a hollow sound filled with despair and anguish. Ash forced himself to stop; to remain calm. In the piercing silent that followed Eiji's eyes began to tear up.

"Please don't hate yourself." Eiji whispered. "I don't hate you. I made this choice myself. You need to live…. please don't do anything rash." Ash listened to the plea, his insides squirming. He deserved to live? He deserved Eiji's blood? When did he get that entitlement?

_I made this choice myself._

Eiji had said those horrible words. He had truly chosen Ash over himself.

"I'm sorry." Ash said quietly. "I did this to you, all of it. I hurt you and somehow made you believe that it was for the best…" A small pained smile crossed his face. Eiji slowly lifted his hand and weakly placed in on Ash's hand. Ash jerked away as if he had touched fire. He did not deserve Eiji's comfort. He did not deserve to touch Eiji ever again. Eiji's eyes widened and he attempted again to take Ash's hand.

"Ash you have to listen." He plead tearfully. "You have to…" It was all too much for him and he broke into harsh coughs, his weak chest heaving.

"Eiji." Ash said concerned, looking around for his water bottle. He spotted it on the bedside table and snacked it up. He held it up to Eiji's lips so he could drink. His actions felt fake. Here he was helping Eiji after he attacked him every night since over two weeks ago. As he watched the Japanese drink his resolve hardened.

He would have to leave…now; take himself far away from Eiji to keep him safe. He would go somewhere to starve to death. He would not ask anything else of his boyfriend. He wouldn't contact his gang or Shorter. He would die slowly and painfully like he deserved. As Ash got ready to stand up there was a sudden rapping sound on the door. Ash and Eiji looked around at it.

"Eiji!" Shorter yelled from the other side. "What's going on? Why is your door locked?" There was more hammering. "Who's in the room with you….is it Ash!? Eiji is Ash in there?"

"Yes!" Eiji yelled as Ash drop the water bottle swearing. "He knows! Ash knows…" he broke off in another coughing fit. Ash clenched his fists. This was not good. If Shorter got in Ash wouldn't be able to escape. He and his men would find a way to keep Ash close to Eiji. Shorter had said only hours earlier that he was on Ash's side. It was only now that he understood that the other side was Eiji's not the vampire's. Ash glanced around the room. There was no way to escape. Of course, there wasn't. Ash himself had made sure no one could get in or out. He heard yelling on the other side and realized he only had minutes left to figure out what to do. Shorter knew where the explosives were to break into the room. Ash had foolishly told him in his attempt to catch the imaginary vampire who he thought had broken in. He knew he couldn't escape, and he knew he couldn't let Shorter and the others catch him. There was only one way left to protect Eiji from himself.

Ash closed his eyes for a moment and slowly let out his breath. Calmly, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his gun.

"Ash!" Eiji cried weakly. "What are you doing?" Ash glanced back at him. The second they made eye contact Eiji understood. He understood what lengths Ash would go to protect him."

"ASH!" Eiji screamed. It was a terrible sound. On the other side of the door he heard Shorter yell.

"Eiji! What's going on? What's he doing?!" Eiji didn't answer. He shakily put his hands on the side of the bed and forced himself into a sitting position. As soon as he was upright, he began to teeter on the spot. His eyes were unfocused, and any remaining color faded from his face. His breath became labors and he shook violently.

"Ash." He cried. Ash felt his heart break. Eiji was suffering again. Nothing he could do would be able to set Eiji free from his suffering. He had ensnared him in a trap. With the hand not holding the gun he gently pushed Eiji's shoulder. The dark-haired man collapsed back into the bed.

"Lie down." Ash said softly. "You're going to hurt yourself. You shouldn't be sitting up yet."

"Ash." Eiji panted "Stop. Don't…do…this." Ash just gave him a small smile and calmly pulled the blanket over Eiji's face.

"I'm sorry." Ash said gently. "For everything. No matter what I do, I hurt you. At least this way…at least you'll live. I can't forgive anyone who hurts you, even if it's me. Don't look. Cover your eyes. You don't want to see this." From under the blanket Eiji let out a muffled sob and struggled to get free.

Behind Ash there was an explosion and the door fell in. At the same time Ash put the gun against the side of his head, his free hand still holding Eiji down. He put his finger on the trigger and started to pull.

WHAM

Something knocked into him, hard. He lost his grip on the gun and it clattered to the floor. Ash kicked out as he turned to see who attacked him. Shorter was there holding his wrist with one hand and waist with the other. He grunted at Ash's kick but didn't let go. Behind him Ash's men were rushing in into the room. Hand closed on Ash and he struggled against them. He kicked, punched and twisted until he felt some of the hands holding him loosen slightly. He pulled away and was able to get most of them off. Then Alex appeared in front of him with a cloth in one hand. Ash felt someone press on his back and he thudded back to the floor. Alex brought the cloth to Ash's face and pressed something into him mouth and nose. The second Ash breathed in he knew he had lost. The hands released him as Ash's world started to spin. He attempted to get up to his feet but ended up on the floor again.

_"No." _He cried in his head. _"Not like this. It can't end like this. Eiji…Eiji!" _Turning his head, he saw Eiji sitting up in bed again gazing down at him. Eiji was mouthed the same words over and over again.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry"

Ash wanted to respond but found he had no more energy. His head hit the floor and he felt someone attempt to move him. Then Ash's world faded to black.


	8. Chapter 8

"May I see an ID please?"

The young man in the blue assistants' outfit handed the security guard a small ID card. The guard glanced down at the picture of the short black-haired man with deep brown eyes and then to the man in question. After a quick check he nodded his head and clicked a button inside his booth.

"Have a good day Mr. Ling." The guard said. He handed the ID card back and the door to the facility opened with a loud buzz. Shorter nodded to the security guard as he pocketed the fake ID and headed in. He was, once again, posing as one of the assistants for Doctor Rebeca Willems one of the top researchers of vampirism. He had been slinking around the research facility for the last six days. His hard work was finally paying off and now he was going to put his plan in action.

The whole process took time, lots of it. It took him almost an entire day after learning the truth about Ash and Eiji to communicate with some old contacts of his. He had to convince them to help him create a fake ID that would fool even the facility's highest security. It took time but by the end of the day he was ready to break in. For the next couple of days Shorter scouted for information about vampires, doctors, security and other personals. This took a painstakingly long time. He had to navigate very slowly and make sure not to make a single false move. He knew Eiji was right when he said the people at the vampire research facility shot on sight anyone who was behaving suspiciously. Even knowing this, it was killing him to waste so much time. He wanted to rush in guns blazing and demand all their information on vampires and the cure. Every moment he wasted was a moment that Eiji grew weaker and Ash more depressed. Truthfully there was a good chance that the researchers didn't actually have any sort of cure. This horrible idea always lingered in the corners of Shorter mind and he had to push down. He would deal with that when the time came.

When Shorter first got the fake ID, he had told Eiji of his plans. Eiji met this news with a mixture of alarm and doubt.

"If they knew a cure then they would have given it to the public by now!" Eiji had said sternly. "This is just dangerous and reckless. You can't just running around like this. What would happen if you got killed?" Shorter knew his plan was going to be met by skepticism, but he didn't realize that Eiji's would go into full worry mode. It took Shorter a good ten minutes to calm own the panicking sick Japanese. When Eiji was calm enough to listen, he explained his reasoning.

The truth was, although the public might not know of it, there was no proof that a cure did not exists. There could be a number of reasons why a cure existed, but the public did not know of it.

1\. They had a cure, but it was too risky because of weird side effects.

2\. The cure only worked 10% of the time so they wanted to perfect it before sending it out.

3\. There wasn't enough of the cure so it would cause mass panic if it was released to the public.

4\. They weren't that far along on making the cure. They might have an idea but not much to work on.

5\. They had a cure but for some political reason it was being withheld.

6\. The cure was available however, it went against morals and reasoning so they could not send it out.

7\. A mixture of two or more of these reasons.

After hearing all the points Eiji begrudgingly agreed that any of those could be the case. Even so he argued that if it had to do with something dangerous such as permanent side effect like going blind or something, he did not want it used on Ash. Shorter had agreed but only half truthfully. Depending on the side effect he was willing to let Ash have the cure if it meant both of his friends could live. He would see if the risk was worth taking when the time had come. That had been one of Shorter's biggest worries for the next couple of days until it happened.

Ash had found out the truth.

It was extremely fortunate that they were able to figure out that Ash had overheard them. They were even more fortunate that Alex noticed that Ash wasn't outside and had suggested that they checked on Eiji. They were also really fortunate that Shorter knew where the explosives were hidden so they could take down the door. If they hadn't noticed Ash there, if Alex hadn't thought he was still inside, if Shorter didn't know where the explosives were…An image of Ash's dead body lying next to his gun with his brains blasted out crept into his mind. Shorter shivered. They were extremely lucky. They had been able to restrain and knock out Ash. After Ash was unconscious, he was brought to his room and tied up. Anything he could use to harm himself was removed. Shorter worried that Ash would refuse to eat or drink, but it seemed that getting blood every night made up for it. After dark Shorter would wait until Ash called for him and then let him out.

He hated it. He hated this with a burning passion. He was restraining a friend and releasing a monster on another friend and to what end? When everything was over and done would; when Eiji's eyes became lifeless and he gave into the pain, what would Ash do? Would Ash take his own life? Shorter had a horrible feeling he would. It had been on his mind for the next couple of days. Finally, that morning before he had arrived at the research facility, he had confronted Ash.

He had entered the room to find Ash sitting there staring blankly at the wall. He didn't even react when Shorter came in. It was terrible to see Ash broken this way. Others had kept Ash locked up, but they were usually enemies. It was usually up to Shorter and the others to brake him out or to aid him. Now they had become his enemy.

"Hey." Shorter said sitting down. Ash ignored him.

"Listen. I need to ask you something." Shorter hesitated and looked down at his hands debating his next words carefully. "I need to ask you what you plan to do after…after this is over…" Ash stared emptily at the wall. After a few seconds he spoke.

"Is Eiji still alive." His voice sounded hollow. Shorter glanced at Ash and found that he was still staring blankly ahead.

"He's alive." Shorter said. "But after…." He took a deep breath "After Eiji is gone what are you planning to do?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Ash said horsey finally turning to stare down Shorter with his dead eyes. "I'm going to follow him." Shorter let out a breath slowly. He knew Ash was going to say that, but it still hurt him to hear it.

"You should do that." He finally said. Ash's eyes sharped.

"Oh?" he said coldly.

"Eiji suffered for almost three weeks for you…He's going to die for you…" Shorter said. "Are you really going to make him go through all that pain and suffering in vain?" Shorter knew he was being cruel. If everything worked out and he got a cure then he wouldn't need to worry about this, however if there wasn't any cure…. well he had already chosen sides. He would fight in the hopes that he could at least save one of his friends.

"He shouldn't be suffering at all." Ash said weakly clearly struggling with Shorter's words.

"He made that choice by himself." Shorter whispered "If you were to die afterwards…you would be spiting on all his hard work. He is trying really hard to keep you alive. Do you know how painful vampire venom is? Do you know how horrible your vampire self is? He's putting up with that for your sake." Ash gave a snarl and clenched his fists. His wild eyes narrowed at Shorter and Shorter closed his mouth. He knew Ash wasn't going to decide today. He felt like a monster saying those words. Shorter took a deep breath in trying to clear out the sadness and guilt threatening to overwhelm him

"I'm currently trying to find a cure." He finally said. Ash pulled back his head confusedly and stared at him. After a few seconds Ash's eyes widened in horror as he figured out what Shorter was doing.

"You're breaking into the research facility." He croaked. "Do you realize how dangerous that is?! Are you trying to get yourself killed?" He leaned forward and grabbed at Shorter's shirt before Shorter could react.

"I can't lose you as well." He snapped. "If you are going to do something so dangerous that could yield no results you might as well just put a bullet in my head! Every moment you waste Eiji get's weaker. Every moment you're in there you could get yourself killed." Shorter didn't respond. Ash was truly amazing. Somehow, he managed to put the entire blame of the situation him his own head even though Shorter betrayed him. He seemed to see their betrayal as a form of error on his behave.

Even so he was reacting in the way Shorter knew he would. This was why he didn't ask Ash for help when breaking in. First, he would have to explain who was biting Eiji and second Ash would act rash, not carrying if he got shot or not. Then if there wasn't a cure, he would kill himself to protect Eiji.

"I'm being careful." Shorter said pulling away from Ash's grip. "And I'm not putting a bullet in your head…so get that idea out of your mind. Just…try to have a little hope alright? If this works both of you can be saved…" Ash's eyes lost focused as he slouched back down.

"I lost all hope weeks ago." He whispered quietly.

That was the end of their conversation.

Thinking back to it Shorter wished it could have gone better though he didn't know how. What could he have said to make Ash feel like there was a chance of saving Eiji? Of course, it was a small change of success and every day that passed it got smaller. The nurse said that Eiji was holding out a little better then she thought he would but only estimated he had about 5 days left. She had also informed him that Eiji could die any of those days because of a heart failure or high fever. The chance of death was growing, and Shorter had to take his time to get even a step right. It was maddening.

Shorter clenched his teeth and went back to focusing on the task at hand. For the last couple of days, he had been watching those who entered and exited the lunch room. He had noticed that one of the scientists always left his wallet, which contained his ID badge, on the table when he went to get food. A carless move but so far no one had called him out on it. Shorter needed that ID badge to get into Dr. Willems personal lab. Right now, with his current ID he could only get into lower level scientists' labs. He had checked all of those but could not find any information he needed. Today was the day he would break into Dr. Willems lab and questioned her about vampires. All his hard work acuminated to this very hour. He watched the clock.

12:10

Around this time the scientist, Dr. Robert Rollinghood, would enter the break room. As if on cue the scientist in question came around the corner. Shorter calmly followed him into the break room. He kept one eye on him as he pretended to observe the menu. After Dr Rollinghood found a seat, Shorter quickly went up and ordered a chicken noodle soup and then slipped over to where Dr. Rollinghood was sitting. Dr. Rollinghood, who had his head buried in a memo didn't notice Shorter at all. The scientist placed his wallet, the memos, and a small bag on the table and went off to get food. Shorter glanced around. No one seemed to be looking but he knew if he had reached out and grabbed the wallet, he would be caught on the security camera and be shot.

12:13

A woman wearing assistant clothes approached the table, her head buried in a book. In her free hand she had a lunch tray. Shorter noticed a few days ago that she rarely seemed to look where she was going. As she passed him, he hooked her leg under the table, and she fell forward dropping her tray of food and the book. They went flying across the table smearing everything in mash potatoes and coffee. The tray smashed into Dr. Rollinghood's items and memos went flying into the air. Shorter and the woman went crashing to the ground. Around them the sciences looked over. They eyed the two of them for a second before decided that they weren't that interesting and went back to what they were doing. Shorter jumped up and began helping her pick up the mess. He located the wallet under the table and quickly picked it up making sure his back was to the security camera. He opened the wallet and pulled out the ID and replaced it with a fake. Straightening up, he put the wallet and some of the soggy memos on the table and handed the empty plate to the woman. She muttered her thanks embarrassedly and hurried off. Shorter went back to finishing his meal.

12:50

Shorter left the lunch room and headed over to Dr. Willems' private lab. He walked down the hall and stopped at the water fountain just outside of the lab.

12:51

The guard whose job was it to monitor Dr. Willems left the room. The next one would arrive at 2:00. Shorter casually pulled away from the fountain and strolled meaningfully to the door. He pressed the stolen ID card to the security panel. The light over the door turned green and the door gave a loud buzz indicating that it was unlocked. In one smooth motion Shorter put the card away and slipped in the room. The whole plan was going without a hitch though part of him knew it would have gone faster if Ash was involved. It was times like this he really appreciated how smart Ash was. If only it didn't involve Eiji…Shorter shook his head to empty that thought and quickly closed the door behind him; clicking the lock as he did. t

The room was large and messy with little surfaces uncluttered. The tables, desks, and counters were littered with bottles of unknow liquid sitting on stacks of papers, different shaped tools, photos, and binders. In the corner of the room there was a jar that had what looked like a severed human hand in it. If Shorter had to guess, he would say it belonged to one of the vampires who starved to death while imprisoned. The walls were lined with maps and charts with diagrams and mathematical equations far beyond Shorter's understanding. In the middle of the room, sitting on a chair with her back to him, was Dr. Willems. She was a short woman with dark auburn skin and dark brown hair that was tied up in a bun on top of her head. She wore a white lab coat over a midnight blue uniform that the higher up sciences wore. Around her waist was a belt that held a variety of tools and a walky-talky. She seemed busy at work writing something down on a paper. She was scribbling away enthusiastically, and her nose was an inch from the paper. She didn't notice that anyone had entered the room. Shorter took a deep breath and steeled himself. He crept quietly forward towards the woman. He needed to get his hands on the walk-talk to prevent her from calling for back up. He creeped closer and closer until he was right behind her. The woman stopped writing. Shorter paused but all she did was scratch her head with the pencil. Shorter let out a slow breath and swooped down on her. One of his hands covered her mouth to prevent her from screaming while the other grabbed her hand closes to the walk-talky.

"No sudden movements." He growled in her ear trying to keep his voice as low as possible. She tensed up in fear and gave a whimper. "I'm going to take my hand off your mouth now. If you try to scream, I'll break your neck." The women nodded fearfully her eyes darting around the room. Shorter felt a twinge of guilt as he lifted his hand. She was just a citizen after all and he didn't like threatening her, however his two friends' lives were on the line.

"What do you want?" she asked quietly when his hand was off her face.

"I need to know any information you have about a cure for vampirism." Shorter whispered. Her eyes widened and she stared up at him.

"There isn't any cure." She said.

"Don't play games with me." Shorter snapped tightening his hand around hers. "The international vampire research association has been working on this for almost three decades. Are you saying that all of you have nothing to show for that?" She whimpered again as his grip tightened. He glanced at the clock, 12:53. He had seven more minutes before the next guard showed up and noticed the door was locked. Gritting his teeth, he turned back to the woman.

"Tell me what you have." He snarled. The scientist gulped and looked down. For a second Shorter's stomach dropped. Did they really not have anything? Was all this pointless? Before he could start panicking the scientist started talking.

"We have found a way to cure vampirism but it's too unactuated." She muttered. Shorter's spirits lifted and his pulse started to quicken.

"Go on." He said urgently.

"There has always been a debate among scientists about the nature of vampirism." She babbled. "From the beginning of our research we argued about if a vampire's need for blood came from the illness or the alternate personalities."

"Isn't that the same thing?" Shorter asked confused.

"No," the scientist said shaking her head. "Depending on what's the cause of the need for blood reflects on how to cure it. In recent years we have found that need of blood comes from the alternate personality. With this discovery we have worked on a way to fight the alternate personality."

"So, the cure just stops second alternate personally." Shorter asked.

"No, it gives the day conscience the ability to fight the night conscience." She said. "If the night conscience is overpowered the illness disappears. However due to the night version's power it always overwriting the main conscience. This means that even if the main conscious is awake and fighting the chances of winning is still extremely small.

"How small?" Shorter asked worriedly

"We predict a 1 out of 50 change of success." The scientist said. "Of course, there is other problems. With the day conscience aware of what they are doing at night there is also the extreme guilt and self-hatred that comes with seeing oneself as a monster. If the person cannot fight the vampire self it could lead to the person hating themselves or secluding themselves from other humans. Then there is the problem of giving the cure to the vampire. They can only access it through the blood of their victims. This means we need to eject the drug into the victim's blood stream and allow the vampire to drink it out. This is immoral and we cannot give it to the public with these low chances and immortal solutions, It's a failure.

"Ok." Shorter sighed. "Let me make sure I understand. The cure is a drug that needs to be given to the victim so the vampire can drink it out of their blood. The drug allows the vampire's day conscience to stay awake during take over and fight with the night conscience. If the main conscience wins the person will be cured, however as long as the second conscience is there the person will need blood to survive. The chances of winning against the night conscience is next to none." The woman nodded. Shorter let out a slow breath. It wasn't a great solution but was better than nothing. On one hand there didn't seem to be any horrible side effects which was good. Then again on the other hand if Ash failed to cure himself then there was no talking Ash out of killing himself. If Ash had to watch himself slowly kill Eiji he would be completely destroyed. What made it even riskier was that even if he did fight it off, there was always a chance Ash would never recover from watching himself attack Eiji.

Even with all of that to consider it was still better than doing nothing at all.

"Alright then." He said. "Where's the cure?"

"O-over at that table." She said nodding towards a table in the corner of the room. The table was covered in papers and on top them was a small gray container. Shorter jerked the woman around to face him and reached under his shirt to where he hit rope. He pulled it out and bound her to the chair, finishing up with tape over her mouth. Once she was secured, he quickly turned and rushed over to the table. Opening the container, he found a bottle of unknown liquid and a needle. Shorter closed the box and looked over at the clock.

12:59

He had one-minute left. Shorter would have loved to stay to ask more questions about the cure, but he was out of time. He slipped the box under his arm and darted to the door. He unlocked it and rushed into the hall, slowing down as he did so. Shorter sped walked down the hall and into the elevator. The elevator seemed to take forever. To make it worse people kept slowing its progress down by entering and exiting the elevator at various levels. As the door opened on the 3rd floor an alarm went off.

**"ATTENTION! THERE IS AN INTUDER IN THE BUILDING. PLEASE SIT DOWN WITH YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR AND A GUARD WILL COME AND CHECK YOUR ID"**

The voice echoed through the elevator as the electricity turned off and the emergency lights went on. All the people around him complied, sitting down where they stood. Shorter knew that if he was the only one starting, he would be shot on sight but if he sat down with the others the guards would notice that he had the cure. If that happened, he would be shot anyways. Shorter swore loudly and changed down that hall. It was clear that the next guard had arrived to find Dr. Willems all tied up. He was still surprised on how fast everything went. He thought he had another minute or so before the alarm went off.

Around him he could hear shouting and the sound of gun fire. The guards were shooting at him clearly not caring who else they hit. The people on the ground buried their heads in their hands. Down the hall security doors were closing. Shorter gritted his teeth. He wasn't going to make it to the stairs. He would had to go with one of his emergency plans. Shorter darted into a spare room and locked the door behind him. From his scouting missions he knew this room had a small window overlooking the ocean. He charged it and smashed through it as the door banged open behind him. Shorter felt a sharp pain in his lower back and right shoulder. Hissing in pain he hugged the little container closer to himself as he fell into the river below.


	9. Chapter 9

Eiji shook awake violently and broke into a coughing fit. He just had another horrible nightmare. He'd been getting them ever since Ash had realized he was the vampire. These dreams all started the same, with Ash locked in Eiji's room with him. He had the same face expression that he had that day; broken and empty. Eiji always tried to reach for him in his dreams but found that he couldn't move. He would call out desperately to Ash who would look at him. Ash would smile sweetly at him and gently put a hand on his shoulder. He would whisper words of comfort to Eiji. Then his face would go completely blank and he would put the gun against his head. Eiji screamed, he always did but no sound left his mouth. In some dreams Shorter was at the door banging franticly and yelling for Eiji to let him in. In other dreams it was just Ash and Eiji. Whether Shorter was in the dream or not, the conclusion of the dream never changed. Ash would fire the gun and Eiji would watch him die. The light would fade from Ash's eyes and his blood would oozed all over the floor. Even after waking the dreams he would still see Ash's lifeless body vividly in his mind. Eiji was always left with an ominous feeling of dread. He wondered what would happen to Ash after he died. Would Ash take his own life? He silently prayed that Shorter and the others would be able to convince him otherwise.

He missed Ash's day self. The absents of day Ash in his live left him feeling more hopeless then he had ever before. Ash was locked up and Eiji knew he would never see him again. He would never get to see Ash's smile or laugh with him. He would never feel Ash's gentle loving touch or hear his sweet voice. Vampire Ash was always cruel, collective and rough. He had been taking his sweet time ever since Ash was confided to his room. It was tiring to deal with him and to make matters worse it was getting harder to pull up nice memories with Ash. The last memory with day Ash was extremely dramatizing and he didn't want to remember Ash as the broken person he was that day. Shorter was not helping matters by flinging himself into trying to find a cure that most likely did not exist. His desperation made Eiji more afraid. If he was to lose Shorter as well… He didn't know how he would deal with it. If Shorter died, then Ash would die after himself. It made the situation even more hopeless.

At the thought of Shorter Eiji turned his head slightly to look at the clock. 7:30. Shorter should have been back to check on him. He always did before Ash's night self showed up. He usually was not there when vampire Ash showed up because it hurt him to watch Eiji get bitten. Did Shorter check in while he was still asleep? If that was the case, he should still be there. Shorter knew Eiji worried about him and always stuck around as long as possible. A horrible thought crossed Eiji's mind. Did something happen to Shorter? Eiji's blood went cold.

_"No, please no." he begged in his mind. "Please let Shorter be alright." _ Eiji wanted to call someone to ask but he knew no one was around. They would all be downstairs discussing the current situation. Now that Eiji thought about it most of Ash's men started avoiding him after Ash was caught. It seemed like they wanted to stay away from him to make his inevitable death easier on themselves. Eiji didn't blame them but it made him even more lonely to think about it.

Before Eiji had any more time to worry about Shorter's current location a soft knock came from the door. If Eiji had any energy he would have jumped in surprise. Turning his head to the side he saw Shorter peeking in. All the fears and worries seeped out of him. He felt his breathing return to normal and gave a small sigh of relief.

"Are you awake?" Shorter asked. Eiji nodded shortly and attempted a smile. Shorter smiled back and walked into the room. The second his whole body was in view Eiji jerked back in surprise and his smile faded

"What happened?" He gasped softly. Shorter was not wearing a shirt and Eiji could see a bloody bandage wrapped around his waist, upper torso and upper left arm. He had a blood-stained bag slung over his shoulder that was riddled with bullet holes. His right arm was in a sturdy cast. The rest of his was covered in bruises and sharp cuts and he smelled faintly of dirty sea water.

"My escape plan didn't work out." Shorter said rubbing the back of his head with his left hand. "I had to use the emergency plan. I jumped out a third floor window into the sea and…" He nodded towards his right arm "This happened." He paused then continued quickly. "It's not broken though so I should get it off in a few days…"

"This happened at the research facility?" Eiji asked frowning. "You shouldn't go back there again."

"No need!" Shorter said and to Eiji's surprise he smiled cheerfully. It was the first time in a while that Eiji saw him this happy. If he was happy that could only mean…

"Did you find a cure?!" Eiji gasped. If he really found a cure that would change everything. It meant Ash would get better without hating himself to much. It meant that Eiji would live. It meant they could continue on exists in the future together. It meant Ash's men would stop guiltily avoiding him and Shorter would go back to laughing carefreely. All this excitement was too much and Eiji broke into another coughing fit. Shorter waited until it had died down and reached into his blood-stained bag, pulling out a small grey container.

"I sure did." Shorter said smiling widely. Eiji's face broke into the real smile he had for a while. His mouth mussels felt weirdly tense.

"Then everything's alright!" Eiji said happily. Shorter's smile faded slightly and he rubbed the back of his head again.

"I know I found a cure but…it's still not guaranteed." He said weakly. Eiji's ball of happiness popped and he felt gloom enter once again. Shorter started to explain how the cure worked. While he spoke Eiji euphoria was replaced with a growing sense of dread.

"Before Ash shows up tonight, I need to give you the cure so he can drink it out of you…" Shorter finished off watching Eiji's reaction.

"If that happens Ash will have to fight his vampire self" Eiji said meekly. "And if he ends up losing against him, he'll hate himself even more…"

"I don't think Ash can hate himself anymore then he already does." Shorter said bitterly. "You haven't seen him Eiji he's…he's not himself at all…"

"What if it does work?" Eiji asked quietly. "If it works and he's cured. If he sees what he did to me he might still hate himself…What if he decides that what he did was to horrible and tries to kill himself again?" It was quiet in the room for a few minutes.

"Are you not going to take it then?" Shorter finally asked worriedly.

"No, I'll take it…" Eiji sighed. "It's still the best choice we have…I just don't like it… No matter what I do Ash seems to always get hurt. He was fine until I came along and now…now that he let me get close to him, I managed to hurt him… I just hate this!"

"That's not true." Shorter said. "He's happier with you then he has ever been. He never had someone he could open up to before."

"And look where that's gotten him." Eiji laughed bitterly.

"Eiji," Shorter said. "I know it seems hopeless now. Let's just give him the cure and see what happens." Eiji looked Shorter in the eyes for a moment and nodded. Shorter nodded back and pulled out the cure. He filled the shot and turned to Eiji. The Chinese put it against Eiji's forearm, then hesitated.

"I don't know how you should feel after taking this." He told Eiji. "You could get drowsy or feel sick or go numb. I didn't have time to ask the science all the questions I needed to."

"It's fine." Eiji said. "It can't be worse than a vampire venom…Just do it." Shorter nodded and pushed the needle into Eiji's vein.

**8:45 the next morning…**

Ash knew something was different though he didn't know what. He had woken up that morning to bright sunlight but, instead of feeling guiltily refreshed, he felt dizzy and gross. He first thought that he didn't bite Eiji the night before but then realized that he didn't feel hungry. Vampire who do not get a meal get extremely hungry and he wasn't feeling that at all. That being said he still was feeling weird. He was more aware of his body then before. He could feel the blood flow through his veins and his heart beating in his chest. He was awake of every little movement he made. There was also the sensation that someone was sleeping in his mind. He didn't know why he thought that, but it felt like part of his brain was still asleep.

As the day continued the sensation grew worse and worse. By the time the sun started to set, he had become uncomfortably aware of every breath he took. After the last ray of sunlight was gone the thing in his mind started to stir. Ash knew, though he didn't know why, that the thing would wake up in a couple of hours. As the night progressed Ash started to feel physically weak. His body was becoming heavier and sluggish with every passing hour. Finally, his body couldn't take it anymore and gave out on him. He toppled over and surrendered himself to emptiness. His eyes closed but instead of feeling his conscience fade like it did every night as he fell asleep he realized he was still wide awake. He lay there in darkness for a few second then…the thing in his mind woke up. Ash opened his eyes and sat up. Or at least the thing in his brain did…

Ash had no control over his own body.

**Well this is a shock. **

The thing in his mind said in a hollow echoing voice.

**You aren't supposed to be conscience. **

_"Who are you!" _Ash demanded in his head.

**Me? I'm you. **

Ash felt his mouth form a smile and a wave of dread hit him. If this thing was him did that make it his vampire self?

**That's correct! **The voice said gleefully. **This will be fun! Let me show you how your nights look.**

Ash felt his mouth open and his voice rang out strongly.

"Shorter! Get in here! I'm hungry!" It was quiet for a moment, then Ash heard footsteps. The door slowly opened and Shorter walked in. From where Ash was standing, he could see bandages peeking out from under Shorter's clothes. His right arm was in a cast.

"What happened to you?" Ash snorted. Shorter didn't answer. He stopped at the doorway and observed Ash for a couple of minutes. Ash's eyes narrowed for a second and then his mouth formed an innocent grin. Shorter's shoulder's sagged.

"What's wrong Shorter?" Ash cooed. "Did you expect something different tonight? Perhaps maybe my day self?" Shorter flinched and clenched his fists.

"Well you aren't wrong." Ash continued in a board tone. Shorter's head jolted up, his wide eyes in shock. "He's awake right now but…let's just say he doesn't have any control." Ash's smile turned amused. "Did you expect he would?" Ash threw back his head and laughed meanly. Shorter looked disheartened as he took out a key and unlocked Ash's chains.

_"Knock it off." _Ash snarled to his vampire self.

**Oh my! Are you mad?**

_"Why are you attacking Shorter? Isn't he on your side?"_

**You are as bad as Eiji. Shorter isn't one of your men. I have to keep him in his place, or else he might rebel" **

The chains clattered to the floor and Ash stood up stretching.

"Right." He said jumping up and down a few times to warm up his legs. "I'm heading out! Don't disturb me like last night. I like to eat my meal in peace." Shorter growled but didn't stop him. His eyes were once again glued on the ground. Ash felt a wave of fear hit him. When his vampire self said meal that could only mean one thing…He was going to bite Eiji.

_"Don't!"_

**But I have to. You see Eiji's mine. And his blood taste so good. You'll understand in a minute. He's a delicacy you won't find anywhere else. His soft skin is-**

_"STOP!" _Ash screamed in his mind. He felt himself chuckle as he walked up the seconded floor landing towards the third floor. Two of his men passed him. When they saw him, they looked away and hurried down the stairs. Ash struggled. He needed to move something…even a pinky. If he could get control of himself, he could prevent Eiji from getting attacked. They arrived at the third floor and walked to Eiji's room. Ash pushed open the door loudly and strolled in.

Eiji was awake. He looked up when they entered the room and his face hardened. Ash had never seen such a cold expression on Eiji's face.

"Hey Eiji." Ash cooed sitting down next to him. "How are you doing tonight?" Eiji didn't answer but his glare deepened. "Where you expecting something else? Shorter seemed to be." Eiji clenched his fists and looked away.

"Don't be angry" Ash said gently putting his hand under Eiji's chin and making him look at him. "When you're angry like this you make your blood taste weird. Calm down so I can have a delicious meal." He put on a fake pout. "Or do you want day Ash not to feel full tomorrow." Eiji looked tiredly at him. Vampire Ash smiled smugly and moved his hand softly down Eiji's face and to his throat.

_"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HIM!" _Ash screamed in him head, struggling wildly. Vampire Ash chuckled again and let go of Eiji. He slowly pulled the blanket down from Eiji's chin so he could see his pale neck. Ash felt his heart quicken as he felt himself licked him lips hungerly.

_"No stop please stop…." _Ash begged. _"Don't do this! I don't want this! _

**But I do.**

_"Eiji…Eiji!" _Ash yelled in his mind. _"Fight him! Don't let him bite you! Don't let him near you!"_

But Eiji didn't move. He didn't even flinch when Ash put his hands firmly on his shoulder. He didn't look mad or angry, he just watched Ash with a calm tired expression. Ash recognized the look on his face. He had seen it before whenever someone had accepted death. Their faces would change from fear to calmness and they would relax.

**See, Eiji understands. He understands that he's mine…yours…ours. We own him. He understands that he needs to die in order for us to live.**

_"No, Eiji fight me!" _Ash continued to yell _"Don't let me do this to you! Don't give up just because it's me. Don't just accept death!"_ Ash felt himself started to lean in. From under him Eiji watched him approach then he closed his eyes; his body relaxing. Ash felt his lips part in a satisfied smile.

**There's my precious Eiji. All snuggled up and warm for me. Ready to be eaten when I choose to. **

His words rang through Ash's head, cruel and smug. Ash felt sick. Although he had no control over his own body his mind was racing. Vampire Ash's mouth was inches from Eiji's throat, and he felt his mouth opening wide.

_"Stop…stop…STOP!" _It happened in an instant. Ash's mouth froze over Eiji's neck, fangs touching his pale skin. Vampire Ash shuttered and Ash felt him mind get wrenched away. For a second the world went black and then he blinked back into reality. Ash felt himself moved forward again, and his teeth sunk into Eiji's neck.

It was delicious. Ash couldn't actually taste it, but he could feel the feelings of pleasure radiating off his other self. He could hear Eiji's heart and feel Eiji shutter under the venom's influence. He could taste the warm blood in his mouth and smell it's sweat aroma. He hated it. He hated this creature. He hated himself. It was like his dreams again. It was worse then his dream. He wished Eiji never had met him. He wished Eiji would hate him. He wished he was the one lying in bed dying. He once again wondered how fate could allow this. How any higher being could allow Ash to do something so horrible to someone like Eiji?

After a couple of hours, he finally felt himself pulled away. Looking down he saw Eiji lying there his eyes blank and empty. He was still breathing but faintly.

**Looks like he survived another day.**

Vampire Ash's voice ranging through his head. He smiled smugly down at the dying Japanese and then went to the door. As he left the room he found Shorter waiting outside. When he saw Ash he tensed.

"He's alive." Ash said and Shorter relaxed slightly. "Take care of him, would you? I'm going to head back." He gave a yawn and started down the hall.

**I told you he was delicious. Admit it you enjoyed it.**

_"Damn you!" _Ash growled.

**Alright be that way. Whatever reason you're still awake I feel that it is not going to go away for a while…that means you will be back tomorrow with me. There's so much I want to show you. Ahh you're angry again aren't you.**

_"How does Eiji put up with you!" Ash snarled _

**Because he loves you. He loves you so much that dying like this isn't going to faze him. Or at least it isn't going to faze him anymore. He wasn't always this brave. You should have seen him in the beginning. I thought I would have to hunt him down but all it took was me calling his name and he came running. It was such an easy meal. And then after he knew my secret, he did me the favor of staying quiet. Isn't that nice?**

_"Shut up!" _Ash shissed. _"I won't let you bite him again!" _

**Oh?**

His vampire self's voice became cold.

**You think since you got control of your body for a second you can suddenly stop me? Don't make me laugh. That will never happen again.**

Ash struggled again in his mind and he felt his other conscience slam his down.

**Stop struggling and enjoy the ride! Look at the bright side at least you can see Eiji again before he dies. We still have a couple more nights left.**

_"No," _Ash cried. Was that really the amount of time Eiji had left?

**Yes, I can feel it. His body shouldn't be able to hold out for too much longer. Don't worry though I only need a few nights worth of blood left, so we won't go hungry once Eiji is gone. After I drink my fill you can do whatever you want with his body. **

His vampire self paused for a moment then continued.

** Of course, there's always the chance he'll surprise me be again. I thought he was a goner couple days ago, but he keeps hanging on. Maybe he'll do the same now.**

_"So, there's a chance he'll survive?" _Ash said trying to not sound hopeful. Vampire Ash snorted.

**A very small change but yeah, I suppose he could out live your illness. He's stronger then he looks. Of course, if he does I will make sure to break his neck before I leave for good. **

_"What? Why?" _Ash cried in horror.

**I own Eiji and the only way to completely own him is to make sure that no one else EVER gets the change to touch him. I will own his mind. I will be the last thing he thinks about. I will own his sense. I will be the last thing he sees, hears, touches. I will own his body. I will be the last thing to touch him while alive. I will own his life. Once I have no more use for him I will dispose of him. **

_"You're sick." _Ash snarled. Was this really a part of him? He would never do this to Eiji. He knew he wouldn't.

**I am part of you. I am that dark desire you get in a fit off passion, the thought that flies through your head late at night. I am that feeling of possessiveness you get when you get jealous. I am the greed you feel when you kiss Eiji. I am the pride you feel when Eiji looks at you lovingly and you know he doesn't look at anyone else that way. I am all these feelings multiplied and powerful.**

Ash felt shameful. His feeling were running wild and he couldn't even control his own body. He needed to fight this creature and save Eiji. There wasn't any other way. Even if Eiji outlasted him he would just kill him anyways.

**Ah, here we are.**

They had reached Ash's room. Ash hadn't even been aware that they were walking. He hated that he had stopped paying attention to his surroundings. Ash felt himself sat down and he wait. A couple minutes later Shorter came in. He looked tired and sickened. He glumly bent over and chained Ash up again.

"Don't look so sad." Vampire Ash simpered. "You have tomorrow and the day after that and after that to get your hopes shattered." Shorter swore angrily and stomped out of the room; slamming the door behind him.

**Well until tomorrow**

With those final words Ash felt the other conscience slip to the back of his mind. He could feel it falling asleep. As its presence disappeared Ash felt himself slump forward and enter into a dreamless sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

"Ash?" A voice called quietly through the darkness. Ash groaned groggy and shifted around. He opened one eye and then closed it quickly against the morning sun's gleaming. He felt as dizzy as he had yesterday morning and, like yesterday, he could feel his other conscience asleep in his mind.

"Ash?" The voices said louder. "I saw you peak. I know you're awake." Ash gave a small growl and opened his eyes. The light was still too bright, and it took a couple of seconds before his vision cleared. When it did, he found that the voice belongs to Shorter who was crouching down in front of him. When he saw that Ash was awake, he asked.

"Did you…. I mean were you awake last night?" The fog in Ash's head cleared and his eyes snapped towards the Chinese man. With his mind fully awake, his memories from last night came pouring back into him. He remembered his vampire self mentioning how Shorter though he would be awake.

"What did you do?" He asked sharply. "How did you know I was going to be awake? Last night…" Last night he had watched himself attack Eiji. The full force of what he did hit him, and he felt nasus. Ash covered him mouth and ducked his head down fighting back tears that were threating to spill over. He had really done it. He had really bitten Eiji. Shorter watched him silently for a few seconds.

"You were awake then." He finally said sighing. "So, it worked…well sort of."

"What worked?" Ash demanded from behind his hand, eyes glaring at his friend. Shorter shifted uncomfortably.

"The antidote." Shorter said nervously. "I got it from the vampire research facility. It gives you a fighting chance to get rid of the vampire and cure yourself." Ash stared at him, his hand slowly lowering from his mouth. Was that the reason Shorter was all bandaged up? Ash felt a new rush of guilt hit him. Shorter had risked his life to give Eiji a fighting chance and to keep Ash alive and Ash had wasted it. He had not been able to fight the vampire. He had let Shorter and Eiji down. Ash dropped his gaze and hung his head.

"Sorry." He croaked. "I couldn't fight him."

"You have tonight." Shorter pointed out hopefully. Ash shuttered. The idea of going through that again was terrifying. His mind kept flashing over last night's events; the feeling of losing control of his body, the smug voice of his other self, his men and Shorter avoiding his eyes, Eiji's cold look, Eiji surrendering himself to Ash, the taste of blood. It was awful. In the past when something terrible happened to Ash he had learned to zone out and just complied, but this was different. It wasn't him who was suffering, it was Eiji. He couldn't zone out and give up. He needed to fight even if watching Eiji in pain was worse than death.

"Ash," Shorter said frowning. "Don't give up yet. I know it's hard to watch Eiji get bitten…"

"Hard?" Ash spat. "It's not someone else Shorter. He's me. I bit Eiji. It was my teeth that sunk into his flesh. I know how his blood tastes. I know how much it hurts him." Shorter flinched and Ash ran his hand through his hair. "And….and he speaks to me, my night self. He laughs at me. He shows me how much control he has over Eiji. Do you know what he says about him? He objectified Eiji. He treats him like a possession. And Eiji…Eiji puts up with it…he lets himself be played with like a toy…" Flashes of the men in his past who had played with him rushed though him mind causing a new wave of nausea to hit Ash. He stopped speaking and gritted his teeth. He knew how it felt to be treated like an object. The idea that he was putting Eiji though the same thing was sickening. What did Eiji ever do to deserve that? Shorter watched Ash a look of guilt and pain on his face.

"Ash…" Shorter finally muttered uncertainly.

"Do you know what he's planning to do?" Ash demanded. "He says that there's a chance Eiji could out last him."

"Really?!" Shorter said his eyes wide with excitement.

"And if he does." Ash continued coldly. "He will break Eiji's neck." Shorter stared at him in shook.

"What?" He finally said. "Why would he do that?"

"Because." Ash said laughing bitterly. "Eiji is his…and he doesn't want to share." Shorter swore under his breath.

"What are we going to do?" He finally asked.

"You could kill me." Ash said simply. Shorter opened his mouth and Ash cut him off. "I know you won't. There isn't really anything you can do but kill me. You could stay in the room with my vampire self, but he'll probably force you out."

"Ash…" Shorter said.

"I'll fight him." Ash interrupted. "But it would still be safer to kill me."

"I know…" Shorter said helplessly. "But I can't do that."

Eiji fought to wake up. He usually just let his body rest, exhaust from the loss of blood and the new dose of venom but today, today he needed to wake up and talk to Shorter. The cure didn't work. That was not his Ash who leered over him last night last night, that was vampire Ash. Fighting harder he gave himself a violent shake and broke into a coughing fit. After a few seconds of harsh hacking he felt someone lift him gently up and pore water down him throat. Eiji drank greedily and slowly opened his eyes. His vision was still blurry, but he could make out a blurb of purple which indicated that the person holding him up was probably Shorter

"Shorter." He whispered hoarsely blinking to clear his vision.

"I'm here." Shorter murmured calmly helping Eiji lie back down. Eiji's vision finally cleared enough so that he could make out Shorter's discouraged face looking down at him. Eiji's heart sank.

"It didn't work." He said numbly. Shorter snorted.

"Oh, it worked" he said grimly. "Ash was awake all last night…he just couldn't fight it." Eiji's blood went cold. Ash was awake? He quickly thought back though last night's events. Did his Ash see all of that? He couldn't imagine what Ash must have been feeling during that time.

"Did you talk to him?" Eiji asked in a whispered. He needed to know what Ash saw. He needed to know how Ash was feeling now.

"Yeah," Shorter said. "He's…he's really down. I…I don't know what I can say to him anymore." Shorter's shoulders slumped. "He hates himself more," he gave a small snort. "If that's even possible. He apparently could talk to his vampire self during the night. It was extremely hard for him. He's suffering from it. Eiji he says his night self played with you like a toy. You know Ash's past…You know what he thinks about people who play with others…"

"This is different!" Eiji rasped. "I'm not putting up with this because I have to. I choose to put up with him. I love him."

"He knows that Eiji." Shorter said. "But that makes it worse. It makes you unable to fight back because of him… Imagine if your roles were switched. Would knowing that Ash had a choice and was choosing to die make it easier?"

Eiji thought of vampire Ash. He thought of if their roles were switched. He thought of himself looking down at Ash. Ash, whose eyes had no fire in them. Ash who was summiting himself to the horrors of vampire venom. Ash who would die alone and in pain, locked in a small room. Eiji closed his eyes and gave a shudder.

"It would make it worse." He croaked. "I wish we didn't find this cure…I don't want him to suffer anymore then he has to…"

"I know." Shorter said helplessly.

The day crawled by painfully slow. It seemed to Ash that he was stuck in that room for days, watching the sun take its sweet time as it strolled though the sky. He wanted night to come so he could fight his vampire self and, at the same time, wanted it to stay day forever. He didn't want to bite Eiji again. He didn't want to feel Eiji's pulse quicken in pain. He didn't want to see him lying there ready to die. As night slowly creeped in and the sun finally disappeared, Ash's nerves were a wreck. He wished there was a clock in the room. He wished he could calm himself down. He wished he could escape his own mind. After what felt like forever, his night conscience woke up.

**You look horrible.**

_"Shut up" _Ash snarled. His vampire self shrugged and called out for Shorter. Ash tried to keep his night self still, forcing him to not move even after Shorter had released him. His vampire self easily shrugged him off as he stood to leave. Ash tried to fight him all the way to Eiji's room, but every time he thought he had gotten some control he was forced back.

**You're really in a fighting mood today.**

His night self said with a small chuckle as they entered Eiji's room.

**Fighting you has worked up quite an appetite. I'm looking forward to my meal even more tonight.**

_"Don't you dare." _Ash hissed. Vampire Ash gave another chuckle as he knocked on the open door to get Eiji's attention. Once again Ash found himself face to face with Eiji. Eiji looked up at him when he entered but instead of looking cold, he looked frightened.

"Ash" he whispered. "Are you there?" Vampire Ash, who had started walking forwards, stopped and cocked his head at him.

"Oh?" he said sweetly. "So Shorter told you about our visitor. Yes, your precious day Ash is here to visit." He tapped the side of his head and Eiji's eyes widened.

"Ash." Eiji pleaded. "Please don't be hard on yourself."

"It's too late for that." Ash heard himself say in a singsong voice.

"Ash, it's alright…Don't worry about me…no mater what happens…" Eiji said desperately. "It's ok."

**Did you hear him? He said he's ok. Stop worrying and enjoy the ride.**

He walked across the room and looked down at Eiji with a sickly smug smile on his face.

_"Eiji" _Ash croaked. How could he say these things? What on Earth did Ash ever do to deserve this kind of love and loyalty? What did he do to deserve Eiji's kind eyes glistening with tears as he looked at him with so much tenderness and caring?

"Ash?" Eiji asked alarmed straightening up. "What's wrong?" Ash felt his mouth open in amazement as he touched his cheek. His face was wet with tears that were streaming down his face.

**What the hell! Cut it out!**

"Ash?" Eiji said uncertainly. "Are you there? Are you in control?" Ash felt his teeth clench and his hands came slamming down roughly on Eiji's shoulder. Eiji gave a small gasp of pain. Ash felt his lips curled in a cruel smile.

"That was dat Ash wasn't it." Eiji said staring desperately into Ash's eyes. "He was the one crying." Ash felt his eyes narrow and his fingers dig into Eiji's shoulders.

"That is none of your concern." He hissed angerly.

_"Stop it!" _Ash yelled in his mind as Eiji cried out in pain, weakly pawing at the hand digging into his shoulder.

**No.**

For the first time, the voice in his head stounded angry. It was clear that Ash's tears had made him uneasy.

_"Eiji didn't do anything!" _Ash yelled in his mind. _"I was the one crying! Stop taking it out on him!" _Vampire Ash took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He let go of Eiji and Eiji gave a small whimper. Ash gave a sigh of relief. To his surprise he felt his body also give a sigh.

**How did you do that?! You can't be in control! **

Ash felt himself getting slammed back down in his mind. He tried to fight back, to get some control but he was shoved aside. Why couldn't he do it again? He did it before. What was he doing wrong?

"Ash?" Eiji asked quietly watching Ash's movements. Ash felt himself glare at the sick Japanese. Inside his mind Ash struggled again. Nothing. It wasn't working anymore. Vampire Ash seemed to realize this as well because he became relaxed. Calmly he placed his hands back on Eiji's shoulders.

"Don't worry." He cooed. "I haven't forgotten you." Eiji looked fearfully into Ash's eyes.

"Close your eyes…please." He begged. "I don't want Ash to see this. Not again."

"And miss listening to Ash's pain stricken cried?" vampire Ash asked innocently. "Why would I do that?" Eiji's eyes widened with horror and pain. Ash felt sick watching him. Even after everything that was happening Eiji still was trying to protect him.

"Why?" Eiji cried. "He's you."

"He tried to fight me tonight." Night Ash whispered patting Eiji's thin shoulder. "I will make him pay. I will let him feel your pain." Ash began to panic. His vampire self was pressing down on Eiji's shoulders hard and Eiji's eyes were starting to water. Ash felt his mouth form a smug smiling as he leaned over him. His night self was doing this for revenge against Ash. He was being harsher then he was yesterday to Eiji. Ash worried that Eiji's weak body wouldn't be able to hold out. Ash struggled again but nothing happened. No matter how much he fought, his mouth still snapped down aggressively on Eiji's neck. Eiji gave a small cry and his hands raised to Ash's head. Ash could feel blood ooze out of the bite mark. As the venom enter Eiji's body, Eiji's whimpers were cut off and his hand fell limply to his side. Ash drunk and drunk. He knew that his vampire self was drinking more then he should. He knew that amount he was drinking was too much.

_"Stop!" _Ash screamed in his head trying to fight. _"You'll kill him! You're drinking too much!"_

**This is what you get for fighting me. If Eiji dies tonight, then it will be all your fault.**

_Please stop…stop…STOP!_

Suddenly he felt his head jerk away for Eiji's body. Vampire Ash paused in shock. They looked down at Eiji who was breathing weakly for a moment, then his night self gave a low angry growl.

**What did I say about fighting me?**

His voice was low and angry, and Ash could feel anger pulsing though his body.

**You'll pay for this.**

Vampire Ash grabbed the water bottle and stuffed it into Eiji's mouth dumping the content down the unconscienced Japanese's throat. Eiji coughed and chocked on the water. Finally gaining his breath he opened his eyes groggily.

"Ash?" he rasped confused.

"Not exactly." Vampire Ash said, a vicious smile crossing his lips. "But it seems that my day self doesn't want to listen, even after I warned him no to pick a fight. So…" Ash felt his hand move down to picked up Eiji's hands and gently caressed his fingers. "I'm going to punish him." His hand suddenly gripped Eiji's figures vice like and started to pry them backwards "By breaking you each of your figures." Eiji's eyes widened in shock and horror and Ash struggled again.

_"Don't do this!" _he pleaded. _"I'm the one you're angry at. Punish me!"_

**Oh, but I am! I'm punishing you in a way you'll never forget.**

Ash struggled and struggled as Eiji started whimpering and clawing at Ash's hand. Why couldn't he gain control now? What was missing? He thought back to the other times he had managed to get control over his body. At those times he wasn't trying to fight…he was just feeling emotions…

It hit Ash like a ton of bricks. It was so obvious, it seemed stupid that he didn't see it before. Ash was no longer a physical being…his body was owned by someone else. He wouldn't be able to fight and struggle the same way he would if he had a body. He needed to let his emotions out. He needed to fight from his very being and not his body. Ash forced himself to blocked out all outer feelings. He reluctantly blocked out the sight and feelings of Eiji. He blocked out Eiji's little cried of pain as his fingers were slowly bent backwards. He blocked out everything that wasn't him.

His night self paused, his hand almost bending Eiji's fingers back to breaking point. He tilted his head in confusion, confused by the sudden drop of Ash's presents.

**What are you doing?**

Ash ignored him and concentrated on his emotions, letting them all out. He allowed himself to feel the horrors of his past. He allowed himself to feel angry and aggressive. He allowed himself to feel ugly and monstrous He also let himself feel those feelings that he had suppressed for so long; self-pity, longing, greed, and fear. Most of all he allowed himself to feel loved. He filled himself with emotions connected to Eiji. He felt guilt, powerful, passion and worry. He also permitted himself to feel the darker emotions connected to Eiji. The feelings he had in moments of security when it was just him and Eiji; the feeling that he deserved Eiji. The feeling of being whole again. The feeling of protectiveness and possessiveness; The feeling of passion. He didn't try to bury them in guild, hide them away from the word. He just let them out, let them consume him.

As he released all his feelings, he found that there were holes in his emotions. Holes where certain emotions had broken away and formed his alternate self. He willed them to return to him. Slowly he felt himself regain control over small portion of his body.

**STOP!**

The voice in his head screamed but Ash ignored him. Vampire Ash let go of Eiji's and grasped his own wrist as if to hold himself together. Ash felt him alternate personality struggle but easily pushed him aside. Now it was his night self who was trying to use physical strengthen in an inner battle. Suddenly Ash felt his arm tense and shoot forwards, wrapping tightly Eiji's throat.

**If I'm going down. I'm taking him with me.**

Eiji gave a gasp of horror and tried weakly to remove the hand from his throat. Vampire Ash's free hand pinned down Eiji's grasping hands, pinning them down to the bed.

"Stop." Eiji chocked out, his fearfully tear-filled eyes staring into Ash's. "Ash please stop."

_"Stop!" _Ash yelled in his head and he started to feel the control leave him. Ash grasped desperately on the feelings and begrudgingly closed his eyes on the world. It was harder now but he still managed to block out Eiji's terrified pale face and his gasping breath. He closed off the feelings of his hand around Eiji's neck. It felt like he was abandoning Eiji to his fate. That he was truing his back on the most important thing in the world. Ash fought to keep his mind open to all emotions.

_"Concentrate." _He commanded. _"This will help Eiji! This will get rid of my other self!"_

**You might be able to get rid of me. But Eiji will be long dead by then. Open your eyes. Surely you want to see the man you love alive one more time.**

_"Shut up!" _Ash yelled. He didn't know if he had yelled it out loud just in his head. It was harder to concentrate now. Was he really not going to save Eiji? Was he going to open his eyes to see his boyfriend dead by his own hands? He wanted to look, wanted to check if Eiji was still breathing but he knew the second he let go he would have to start over again. Ash pushed and pulled until he felt his body coming back under his control. It felt like an agonizingly long time before he had control over all of himself excluding the hand wrapped around Eiji's neck. He could feel that his other self had put all his energy into maintaining control over that one hand. As he gained control of it, he felt his other self fade.

_"You lost." _Ash said. His other self didn't answer, no, Ash realized he could no longer answer. With a final pull he finished absorbing his other self

Ash opened his eyes and released his hand. Eiji was lying there motionless, his eyes wide and empty. His pale skin deadly white. Ash felt fear plummet into his stomach, and he staggered down beside Eiji.

"NO!" Ash screamed. Eiji couldn't be dead. He leaned forward to grab his arm. He needed to find a pulse. Any sign that Eiji was alive. He got hold of his boyfriend's arm and paused for a moment. Nothing. He could feel nothing. He couldn't feel a pulse. He couldn't feel Eiji's arm or the ground underneath him. He couldn't even feel his heart beating. The second he realized this his sight started to go and he all lost strength. He wobbled and slid sideways onto the ground. In his now blurry vision, he saw Shorter hovering over him. His mouth was moving but Ash couldn't hear what he was saying. He couldn't hear anything at all. Ash opened his mouth to tell Shorter to check if Eiji had a pulse. If he couldn't feel anything then there was a chance Eiji still had one. Shorter started down at him confused and Ash felt frustrated. Did Shorter not know what he was saying? Did Ash lose the ability to speak? The world started to fade to black.

_"No!" _Ash thought desperately. _"I need to know if Eiji alive! Shorter please tell me! Stop standing over me and check Eiji! Please! Please!" _But the darkness kept on coming and soon Ash's mind went completely blank.


	11. Chapter 11

Ash looked down at Eiji's motionless body and reached for his arm. Pressing his figures against Eiji's ice cold skin he listened. Nothing. There was no heartbeat. There as nothing left but darkness….

"Eiji." His voice sounded hollow and empty. Eiji didn't stir, he would never move again. Ash opened his mouth and called Eiji's name again, as if it had the power to revise him. Nothing changed. Then suddenly he became aware of something else in the room with him. Around his torso he felt hands grasping him as they began to drag him away from Eiji. He tried to fight them off but then one look at Eiji reminded him that there was no reason left to struggle. He slumped down, allowing the hands to drag him away from the corpse of his beloved. He didn't fight. He didn't care if they were dragging him to Hell, he'd willingly go. For his crimes against Eiji, Hell wasn't enough of a punishment.

"Ash!" a voice cut through the darkness like a knife. Ash became aware that there was a soft bed lying under him; that his eyes were closed. The hand that had been dragging him away in his dreams were still present. The were on his shoulders shaking him lightly. "Wake up!" Ash gave a small grunt and opened his eyes. He was in one of room in his base. The room was dark with the curtains drawn, but Ash could see the light shining dully though them showing him that it was day. Realizing where he was Ash gave a sigh of relief, it was just a dream…..No, it might not have been a dream. For all he knew Eiji could be pulseless still. He could be dead and gone, his eyes still staring horrified up at nothing.

Ash's heart started pumping fast as a wave of energy hit him and he was fully awake. He pushed himself up in the bed and instantly felt dizzy. Gritting his teeth, he put his arms on ether side of the bed to stead himself.

"Whoa, hold up Ash." A voice said next to him and the hands that had left his shoulder when he had moved, appeared again securely wrapped around his upper body. Ash turned his head slightly and saw Shorter sitting next to him on the bed. Shorter pulled the pillow that Ash was lying on and prop it behind Ash's back. Once Ash was secured Shorter sat back and surveyed him. Now that he was sitting up, he could see the room better. He had hoped that Eiji would be there, sleeping soundly in a cot next to him, but the room was empty except the two of them. Ash turned back to Shorter.

"Where Eiji?" he asked worriedly.

"He's at the hospital." Shorter said.

"Is he…Is Eiji alive?" Ash whispered fearing the answer. Shorter turned and looked at him.

"Yeah," Shorter said giving a reassuring smile. "We seemed to of made it in time." Ash felt all his anxiety drain. Eiji was safe. Eiji was going to make it. With that fear out of the way the energy that had spiked inside him faded and he slumped back into the pillow. As Ash moved, he noticed that he had an IV sticking out of his arm. He frowned down at it. How long was he asleep? It couldn't have been only a couple of hours or else they wouldn't need an IV.

"How long was I out?" Ash asked Shorter. Ash saw Shorter bite his lip and he tensed. That was not a good sigh.

"About a week." Shorter said slowly. Ash went pale.

"A week?" Ask asked horrified. He didn't expect to be out for that long. So many things could happen during that time. As if he read his mind Shorter said:

"Nothing really happened while you're asleep. Most of your enemies were still dealing with the pandemic and not one else we know were bitten." Ash let out a long breath and, after a moment pause, he asked:

What happened back there? You know when you came in to find me and Eiji."

"You tell me." Shorter said. "I just heard screaming and thumping and went to check on you two. When I came in Eiji was lying seemingly dead on the bed and you were almost passed out on the ground. Eiji was in a terrible state. He was bleeding and had bruises on his hands and neck. He looked like he was in lots of pain" Ash felt his heart ache at the news but something Shorter said didn't make sense.

"Didn't Eiji already tell you what happened?" Ash asked frowning. Eiji wasn't one to keep secrets. He would have told Shorter everything that happened while Ash his vampire self. Shorter bit his lip again.

"Eiji…hasn't woken up yet." Shorter said nervously watching Ash's reaction. "His body was in bad shape. The doctor says he doesn't know when Eiji will wake." Ash straightened up.

"You said Eiji was alright." He said his voice rising accusingly.

"He should be alright!" Shorter said putting up his hands in defense. "The doctor says it just takes time to recover. He'll wake up!" Ash gritted his teeth as a sudden urge to see Eiji overwhelmed him. He needed to know how Eiji was doing. He needed to see for himself his boyfriends state.

"I'm going to see him." Ash said as he pushed off the blankets and struggled to get out of bed.

"Hey calm down. You just got up yourself," Shorter said calmly pushing him back onto the pillow. "There's no way you'll be able to walk all the way to the hospital. It will probably take at least 24 hours before you'll get all your strength back."

"I can't wait that long!" Ash snapped struggling against his friends' arms.

"Just calm down Ash." Shorter still adjusting his grip. Ash stopped struggling and stared up at his friend incredulously. Did Shorter really think he could stop him? From the pit of his stomach he felt anger rise. He was tired of everyone trying to prevent him from doing things. He was tired of people making choices for him. This was one situation he was not going to let slide. He was not going to sit there and wait.

"Do you actually expect me to wait a day before visiting Eiji?" He asked through gridded teeth.

"No," Shorter said obnoxiously calm. "I expect you to wait about five minutes so I can call Alex to bring the wheelchair to take you to the hospital." Ash stopped struggling looking surprised. Shorter raised his eyebrows at his friend.

"Seriously man, did you think I'd tell you to wait 24 hours?" Shorter snorted. "Ash I've known you years. There was no way in hell you'd stay here once you woke up." Ash didn't answer but he didn't need to. Shorter could sense how grateful he was. Shorter released Ash and went to the door to call Alex. After a minute or so he returned to the room.

"Alex will be here in a couple of minutes." He said sitting down on the bed next to Ash. Ash nodded but didn't say anything. He could feel a sudden tenseness in the room. Glancing over at Shorter he noticed he was concentrating hard on looking at the floor, his hands fidgeting.

"Hey Ash." He said quietly guilt laced into his voice. "I'm sorry for everything that happened."

"It's not your fault." Ash said surprised. "I should've figured it out way before you got back to New York. If I did, I would be able to take matters into my own hands and you, Eiji, and my gang wouldn't have been stuck between choosing one of us." He could feel Shorter stiffen uncomfortably at these words. Ash rolled his eyes and weakly slapped him on the back. Shorter loosened a little and sighed.

"That being said." Ash continued frowning. "I'm not happy that you chose me over Eiji."

"I know you're not." Shorter said slumping back and staring attentively at the wall ahead . "I... I can't explain why. Maybe because I knew you longer, I guess. But it wasn't an easy choose…I" He shivered, and Ash felt a twang of sympathy. Shorter did the best he could during that situation. He found an antidote and now both Eiji and Ash were alive. That was all he could ask for.

"Forget about it." Ash said quietly. "It's more my fault then yours anyways." Shorter opened his mouth to reply but at that moment Alex arrived with the wheelchair.

Eiji looked worst then Ash thought he would. Ash had thought, or at least hoped, that since Eiji was no longer getting attacked every night he would start looking more like himself. It had after all been a week. Ash was apparently wrong. To put it simply Eiji looked like a corpse. He looked almost exactly the same as he did when Ash had last seen him. The only difference was that his eyes were closed, and the bruises lining his throat were slightly faded. Looking at those bruises Ash suddenly vision of Eiji's pleading eyes looking up from under Ash's strong grip. Ash had an urge to break all the fingers of the hands the betrayed him, that made those marks on Eiji, but he resisted. Nether Shorter or Eiji would be happy with him if he did so and it would make fighting hard as hell. Still looking down at Eiji wasn't helping Ash's state of mind.

A nurse came in and wrote something of a clipboard before leaving. Ash felt a twinge of frustrated. What were these stupid doctors and nurses doing? It had been a whole week. Eiji shouldn't still look like this. There should be more progress made on Eiji's recover. Why did he still look so corpse like? As if to read his mind Shorter answered:

"Vampire venom makes the body heal slower. That's why he still looks like shit. Usually the hospital would give him something to dilute the venom slightly, but they are running low on resources. The vampire pandemic is finally winding down, but they don't have much medical supplies left. They used a lot of it up and the city is still closed so no more supplies can arrive." Ash gave a low growl of frustration. He wanted to do something, anything to help Eiji but he was still to weak to move. Another nurse came in to check Eiji's vitals. After she finished, he turned to Ash, paperwork in her hands. Shorter intervened and stepped out with the nurse to fill out the paperwork leaving Ash alone with his unconscienced boyfriend. Ash sat there for a few minutes looking down at Eiji's soft features. Ash wished Eiji would open his eyes. Ash had seen so many corpses in his life and he hated how easily his mind put the Japanese in that category.

"Eiji." Ash murmured softly. He pried himself from the wheelchair and fell to his knees in front of his sleeping boyfriend. Ash gently lay his head on the sheets next to Eiji and clasped Eiji's cold still hands.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled into the blanket. He repeated it over and over as if he hoped his words could heal Eiji. Ash he apologizes he found himself crying, tears streamed from his eyes. He didn't try to conceal them. He was tired of feeling weak and helpless. He was tired of his gentle boyfriend being the victim of his inabilities and limitations. He was just so tired of everything in this god forsaken world.

"Ash."

The voice was so quite that Ash wasn't sure if he heard it out loud or in his head. He stopped crying and listened, but the world was silent. Did he imagine hearing Eiji's voice? Slowly he picked up his face and looked towards Eiji. Eiji eyes were wide open staring worriedly into Ash's.

"Ash." He repeated, louder this time. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?" He looked frightened, as if he wasn't sure that the nightmare had ended yet. "You are Ash, right?" Ash felt sick, Eiji's fear was real and he had suffered greatly. Ash had cried when he had strangled him. Was that what Eiji was thinking? Did Eiji think Ash would try to kill him again?

"I'm Ash." Ash whispered hoarse from all the crying. "My vampire self his gone. I got rid of him. You're safe." Eiji blinked up at the blond a few times as he processed the information. After a moment his eyes got wide and started to water.

"Thank God." He cried. "It's over. You're save. You're alive and healthy and I…" A smiled crossed his face. "I get to keep on living with you." Ash hated the excitement in his voice. It was like the idea of living with the person who had caused him so much pain and suffering was a wonderous godsent miracle instead of a tragic horror-story ending. The way Eiji was looking at him now it was like he didn't just live though all that trauma. Like Ash hadn't been the one casing him misery.

"I don't understand you." Ash finally choked out feeling his eyes starting to water again. "I was already a monster when you met me and now, I've managed to add on a whole list of horrible things I've done to my previously long list. And yet here you are crying for joy at the aspect of spending most time with your attacker." Ash gave a bitter laugh. "And here am I still hanging around you even though I know I cause you pain."

"Ash." Eiji said sounding afraid. "Don't say that. It wasn't your fault." He turned his hand, that was still grasped in Ash's, around so they could hold hands properly.

"And that brings me to another thing." Ash said agitatedly. Now that the horrors were all over, a growing angry was consuming him. "What possessed you to think that my life is worth more than yours? I'm a monster Eiji! I don't deserve a good life! You have a clean future!"  
"No I don't!" Eiji said. "I failed at the one thing I was good at! I managed to hurt myself while pole vaulting and now I can't do it anymore. I'm just a washed up has been. You on the other hand haven't even started your life yet!" Ash stared at him mouth opened wide.

"You really think that about yourself?" He gasped. "Did I make you feel that way? Eiji did I do something to make you feel like you weren't worth anything?"

"No!" Eiji said yelling. "You always made me feel like I was everything! That's why I could give everything to you! My everything is you." Ash ran his hand though his hair, swearing under his breath. Eiji watched him breath heavily, annoyance glistening in his dark brown eyes. After a minute or so he took a deep calming breath.

"Ash," he said with forced calmness. "I know it was hard. I know you suffered but it's over now." His voice got a pleading tone. "Pease don't do anything drastic like running away or killing yourself. Stay with me and let's continue living our lives together." Ash shot his boyfriend a glared not ready to back down from his anger.

"Even though I'm a monster?" Ash snapped. "Even though you could do so much better? You deserve so much better?"

"Who said I deserve better?" Eiji asked confused. "Ash stop sprouting nonsense."

"You just almost died for someone like me and I'm the one sprouting nonsense?!" Ash said his voice rising angrily. "You're crazy." He sighed and his eyes narrowed. "You know what, maybe I should chain you down to me." He smirked. "Then you can really see how horrible I am. That way you can finally understand the truth." Ash wasn't sure what he was saying but he wanted Eiji to be afraid of him, to hate him for what he had done. Ash closed his eyes for a second and opened them again expecting to see some misgivings in Eiji's brown eyes, instead he found Eiji looking astonished

"Ash are you…are you proposing to me?" he asked in a small whisper. Ash stared at him disgruntledly.

"Yes I am." He said finally snorted sarcastically. "Let's get married and you can be trapped by my side forever. All my enemies will know that I have a husband and will target you but who cares right?! As long as I'm happy with my husband at my side, who cares what happens." He meant it to sting. He meant it as a means to show Eiji what would happen if they got married. Eiji he clasped his hands to his mouth tears streaming from his eyes. Ash smiled unhappily at his hollow victory. He had finally done it. He had finally made Eiji fear him, see how awful it would be to live here with him. Now that he had accomplished his goal, he felt drained and empty. Eiji would leave him and he would lose the one light in his life forever.

_"It's what you deserve." _He thought sadly. Ash wanted to leave. He wanted to run out of that room and keep on running until he left everything behind.

"Yes."

The word snapped Ash back to reality.

"What?" he asked confused.

"Yes." Eiji repeated his eyes gleaming with excitement. "I will marry you." Ash stared at him for a second as the reality of what he did crashed upon him.

"Wait." He said quickly "I didn't-" The door banged open loudly cutting him off. Shorter peaked his head in.

"What's going on?" He asked worriedly. "I heard crying and screaming. Is everything alright?" He scanned the room and his eyes fell on Eiji. His eyes lit up and he smiled.

"You're finally awake!" He yelped, then he noticed the tears streaming down Eiji's face and his smile faded. "What happened."

"Ash just asked me to marry him." Eiji gasped though his tears. Shorter froze a second then gave a loud whoop. He darted forward into the room and threw his arm over Ash's shoulder.

"You got me worried there for a minute man!" he exclaimed gripping Ash in a choke hold. "You waited until I leave and then you propose, you sneaky dog!"

"Wait" Ash said chocked out in alarmed. "I didn't mean it like that."

"You don't want to marry me?" Eiji asked freezing in shocked.

"No!" Ash exclaimed quickly. "I _want _to marry you."

"Then there's no problem!" Shorter shouted letting go of Ash and thumping him on his back. "This is going to be awesome. I'm telling the others." With that Shorter jumped up and zoomed from the room leaving Ash and Eiji by themselves. They could hear him loudly talking as he walked down the hall. In the sudden silence Ash started to get his baring around him. He turned to Eiji and looked him in the eyes, wanting the latter to understand his feelings.

"I don't deserve you." Ash said into the silence. Eiji scanned his face thoughtfully.

"Then…think of marriage as your punishment." He finally said. "For putting me thought all that, you now have to marry me and be stuck with a plain looking Japanese who loves Natto. You'll never get the chance to date a pretty girl or a cute guy ever again."

"That sounds like heaven." Ash sighed. Eiji thoughtful expression turned into a genuine smile and he looked down shyly.

"So, does what you say." He whispered.

"That-"

"different I know." Eiji said sighing. "Because you attacked me. Because you promised to protect me but couldn't. Ash I don't care. I chose to protect you because I love you and now, I am getting the chance to spend the rest of my life with you." Ash looked down at Eiji and wondered if he had even work up at all or if he was still dreaming. Was he still lying in bed after fighting his alternate self? Did any of it actually happen? The fact that Eiji was here and still loving him was more then he could ask for, more then what he deserved.

"If you're still unsure about marriage being your punishment," Eiji said slowly, an evil grin crossing his face, "How about I add on to it? We'll have Natto Tuesdays every week from now on. What do you think about that?" Eiji batted his eyes innocently, completely contradicting his evil grin. Ash belched and pulled a face.

"That sounds horrible." Ash groaned sticking out his tongue.

"Great Natto Tuesdays it is!" Eiji proclaimed loudly his smiling growing. "I'll make you regret marrying me."

"Nothing," Ash whispered leaning in and kissing Eiji's forehead. "would make me regret marrying you." Eiji's grin softened and he looked up into Ash's eyes lovingly.

"And nothing you can do can make me regret me marrying you." Eiji said softly. "I know you don't feel that way now but…give it some time. We have a whole life a head of us. Someday…someday I'll make you yourself as I see you." Eiji turned sideways and leaned into Ash's chest.

"I guess we'll have to see." Ash said putting his hands gently around Eiji's head. They sat there for a while just enjoying each other. Ash closed his eyes and concentrated on Eiji's slow painless breaths. He counted them, counted each little puff of air that proved Eiji was still alive. That the horror was over. After a while Eiji pulled away and looked up at Ash his eyes serious.

"Though Ash." Eiji said solemnly. "I wasn't joking about Natto Tuesdays." Ash blinked in shock. Eiji tried to keep a straight face but failing to hide his amusement.

"Are you serious?" Ash asked.

"Yes!" Eiji said. "I think if you eat it enough, you'd slowly start to like it!"

"Or my taste buds would die," Ash grumbled. "No matter what you do I won't join your creepy Natto loving cult." Eiji laughed loudly and Ash thought it was the most wonderful sound in the world. It ranged though is ears pure and unmarked by pain. Did Eiji always laugh like this or did Ash forget in the long weeks when Eiji's laugh had become strained.

"When I get out of the hospital, we need to start planning." Eiji said excitedly.

"Planning?" Ash said worriedly, his mind still on Natto Tuesday.

"For the wedding!" Eiji exclaimed. Ash's face softened and he smiled at his boyfriend, no his fiancée. Ash knew that it would be a while before he could truly look at Eiji without guilt. It would probably be ever longer before he would get the image of Eiji lying helplessly in front of him out of his mind. Ash thought, that perhaps with Eiji's constant love and care, that maybe one day he might start to heal a little. He still doubted he would ever fully forgive himself. He could never forgive anyone who'd hurt Eiji even if it was him.

But for now, that didn't matter. What mattered was the here and now. Eiji was recovering and Ash was with him again, and they had their future ahead of them. That was good enough for now.


End file.
